


Long Lost Everything

by chaotic_billygoattt



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Death, Male-Female Friendship, World War II
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2020-06-02 11:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 44,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19440328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaotic_billygoattt/pseuds/chaotic_billygoattt
Summary: Volksdeutsche. The call for German folk and true Aryans ruined Alice's chances at love and making something of herself in her home town of South Philadelphia. Alice's mother died when she was young: pneumonia. Her father and older brother raised her so she learned to fight back, grow tough skin and never let anyone get her down. She was 16 years old when her father sold the house and everything  in it before moving back to the Fatherland of Nazi Germany in 1939. She returned to her not-so-homeland and the plans for an arranged marriage for her began. Not only was Alice forced to leave her only friend and the place she called home for her entire life, but she was moving from a life of happiness to one of despair.5 months after coming to Germany, Alice fled home with nothing but the clothes on her back and her old passport. From there, she practiced her skills on combat before going on to be a silent killer. Making her way through France, specifically Normandy, before running into trouble.-Old Title:War Is Different When You're In A War With Your Mind





	1. Before The War

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second story going off the show Band of Brothers. Different character all together and a new plot. I mean no disrespect to the real Band of Brothers, this is just for fun. Think of it as an Alternate Universe or Alternate Plot kind of thing. 
> 
> Any language translations are being done in google translate. I know it may be the least trustful site or translation tool, but if it makes anyone feel better, I write what I want into English, translate it to the different language before translating it back to double check. 
> 
> I'm also going to write this in third person POV because it's something I want to improve on. I'm also trying to stay as close to being historically accurate as I can, but if something is off, I apologize. Please feel free to give some nice feedback :)
> 
> Please enjoy !

**Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  
** **1923-1939**

**-**

Her parents were born and raised in Germany, but Alice's mother didn't want her children growing up in such a dark place. Her father, Hans, was a strong fighter in the end of the first World War, but remained loyal to Germany even when he sailed himself and his very pregnant wife, Helen, to America where they settled in South Philadelphia where their first born, Michael, would be born on August 3rd, 1919. Hans remained loyal to Germany through letters with the intention to got back if Volksdeutsche was called, even if his wife didn't want to. 

Four years after the birth of their son, Hans and Helen welcomed Alice into the world on April 13th, 1923. The golden haired baby girl, by American citizenship, was named Alice Louise Noether. But on a secret German document her father received, her name was Alice Noether. No middle name, just like her older brother. The middle names on the American documents were the only things tying them to their American 'heritage'. If they were to go back to the Fatherland, any trace of America would be wiped away like they had been living in Germany all along. 

The Noether children grew up knowing they were of German decent and ever learned to speak their native language, but spent most of their time being normal kids. Alice met her best friend, a young boy from down the street, on her first day of first grade. Michael had lots of friends, but Alice only had the one. The young boy seemed to be the only one who was alright with her being practically foreign so he remained her one and only friend until the day her mother got sick. 

November 7th, 1933, a cold front blew over and Helen Noether was struck with a painful case of pneumonia. She lived through Christmas of '33, but passed January 7th, 1934. All while she was sick, Alice had stayed home from school to care for her mother while Hans went to work and Michael continued to study. Alice's friend thought the first few days Alice was gone was maybe she had a cold or a case of the chicken pox, but after a week and a half of not hearing from his friend, he got curious and stopped by the Noether family home. Of course, Alice answered the door wearing her little white apron that was stained with chicken broth from the times she spilled a bit of the soup she was bringing to her mother. The young boy was disappointed to find out that she wouldn't be attending school until her mother got better or in the worst case, passed away and was no longer in need of constant care. 

Michael brought home any school work he could for his sister so that she could stay up to pace with the children in her grade, but the only time she found for school work was at night before bed or when her mother was asleep. Alice never left her mothers side when she was awake and God forbid her father found out she passed while in Alice's care. 

Staying home to care for her mother and ultimately take her place in the household, had taken a toll on the 10 year old girl as the bags under her eyes grew bigger and darker as the days went by. Although she learned how to cook, clean and care for people, all she wanted to do was go back to school and be with her friend. But even after Helen passed, Alice was put into private tutoring and was condoned to the isolation of her house. It seemed like she wasn't allowed to mourn her mothers death before she had to cook and clean for the two boys she lived with. 

And no matter how many times she begged, Hans denied the young girl to see her friend and instead, sent her with her brother to hangout with his friends where she learned to be tough, how to fight back and how to deal out her own verbal punches. Sooner or later, she seemed to forget the adventures she had with her best friend, but she still kept him in the back of her mind. She wrote him a letter or two shortly after her mother passed explaining her new situation to which he quickly wrote back, hoping to see her on the street some time. Except when he did see her, it wasn't the innocent young girl he had first befriended. The kind sparkle in her eyes was covered by a fog of apathy and she wore a scowl most days, only smiling or laughing when one of her brothers friends said something funny or amusing. Countless times he approached her, but received nothing but a friendly smile on a good day. Most days, she seemed surprised to see him when he approached her and her new friends before going about her day. 

By the time Alice was 16 and the call for Volksdeutsche came around, the two friends that seemed inseparable had drifted apart, but were connected through letters. Many were Alice apologizing for being so distant, but it was all because of her living situation. Hans had been more controlling of Alice. Especially when it came to moving back to Germany. Hans rejoined the Nazi regime and Michael was beginning his training. Plans for the two to be in the same company of SS soldiers were sound which left Alice home alone, confined to her room as her father went back and forth between training a company of young Nazis and arranging a marriage for Alice for when she turn 18. One of the Commanding officers Hans knew was injured and not cleared to return to battle and was looking for a young girl to bear him a child. His first wife had died giving birth to a stillborn baby while he was away and now that he wasn't allowed to fight, he figure he won't miss anything family related. Alice had met the man she was intended to marry after her 18th birthday and she didn't like him at all. And unlike in America, she couldn't fight back when he disrespected her. Her brother taught her to defend her own honor while they were in America behind their fathers' back. Germany was different. Alice had noticed that Michael nor her father cared very much how she was treated, as long as they looked good and were praised for their devotion to Hitler's cause. 

This drove Alice to the brink of insanity. Until she found herself witnessing an exchange of passports in a dark alley on her way home from the shop with her family's groceries. A young couple were given new passports and train tickets to England. They left, but the man who gave them their freedom stayed. Alice didn't know who he was, but he seemed to sense she was there because he pulled her up from the ground by her arm when he found her hiding behind a pile of wood. 

"Please! I won't tell!" She begged in English, forgetting where she was. 

"You are Alice Noether. We've been watching you, Alice." The man told her calmly and in English. He released her arm and began picking up the food items that had been knocked on the ground. "I apologize for my outburst, I thought you were someone else." he told her, handing back the paper bags of food. 

"W-what do y-you mean...when you say you've been watching me?" She asked, careful of her words. She had practiced choosing wise words ever since her first encounter with her future arranged husband. 

"Ever since you moved back here, my organization has been watching you. Your father and brother seem to pledge loyalty to the Nazi regime, but you seem to want freedom. I can help." he explained. He was right, and she was intrigued. "I offer new passports. We send you to France and you work for our organization. In any field that suits your fancy." He told her. Everything he said excited her more than ever. This made her think back to her friend in Philadelphia. He probably would have wanted her to get out of an arranged marriage and be happy, rather than be miserable. 

"I'll do it. I'll do anything. Please, I'll go to France, I'll work in a factory. Hell, I'd even fight in the war if you needed. Please, you have to help me." she begged and cried. She didn't know if the tears falling from her eyes were tears of joy or sadness. She had been forced to be strong and hide her emotions ever since her mother died. This was the first time she cried in six years. 

"I will help you." He said before looking around the alley. The sun had started to set and people were getting off work. "But not here. Not now." His words made her panic, but she couldn't say anything. She was frozen with the fear she might not be helped. The man pulled out a notepad and a pencil before scribbling something on a single page and handed it to her. 

"Meet me here. At this time. Not a second later. But not too early either. It'll seem suspicious and we actively avoid suspicion." He said before turning and walking away in the same direction the couple went, which was the opposite direction she had to go. Quickly, she shoved the piece of paper into her pocket and hurried out of the alley with her groceries in hand. She reached her house just as her curfew began and rushed to put the groceries away before her father and brother got home, but both had gotten home early and were waiting in the dinning room. 

"Where have you been, Alice?" Alice spun, startled, and meet the gaze of Michael, who was leaning against the door frame. 

"I had to take a bit of a detour getting home. There was some people I didn't want to get involved with." she explained before turning back to put the fresh loaf of bread in the bread box and cleaning up the kitchen. 

"Jews?" he questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. Alice didn't turn this time and instead got things out for dinner. 

"No, no. Just...troublemakers." she answered, grabbing her apron and replacing it with her coat on the hook. 

"Staying loyal to Elias?" he asked again, almost like he was interrogating her, but she was used to it.

"Of course." she said quietly, tying the apron to her person with a pain in her heart. If her mother was still alive, she would have never let it get this bad. But her mother wasn't there, and it did get this bad. And now the only thing Alice could do was follow the instructions on the paper in her dress pocket. 

_The paper._

Panicking, she checked to make sure no one was watching her before taking the slip of paper out of her pocket and quietly placed it in her undergarments. A place her father would never check. 

The rest of the night was silent. She made dinner, cleaned up while the two ate quietly before retreating to her room where she read a book she was given by Elias. She hated the fact that he had given her gifts, but some of the gifts were actually really nice. Like his grandmothers jewelry and the books. Alice had planned to sell the jewelry to a pawn shop the minute she was free from this whole arranged marriage bullshit. And she didn't plan on regretting it either. 

**~End of Chapter 1~**


	2. Second Chance Redemption

**Berlin, Germany  
** **1939**

**-**

Alice had followed the instructions on the paper and met the man the next day. From there, he took in her personal information, writing it down as he went before asking her to give her life story and her reason for fleeing. He wrote down, word for word, everything she told him. From her friend back home to her mothers passing, she told it all and without shedding a single tear. They sat for an hour going over what would happen the next day. She was to leave all personal items at home and simply walk out at midnight. A car would be waiting in front of her house at the stroke of midnight and wait there until she came out in case anyone was to prevent her from leaving. 

By noon the next day, she had left her house to visit the pawn shop with all the jewelry Elias had given her and within an hour, she had money in her pocket and was ready to treat herself to a nice lunch with most of it before stashing it in her undergarments and heading home. She wore a smile on the inside, but on the outside, she wore the same displeased blank face she had most days. The only time she smiled on the outside was when she saw little kids playing on the street. It reminded her of home and her best friend. But even after, the thought of her having left her best friend tore her apart because he didn't deserve to be practically ignored and partially forgotten about considering he was the only kid in her grade that accepted her as more than an outsider. 

That night, she managed to find a piece of paper she kept hidden under the sole of one of her shoes. It was a picture of her and her mother when Alice was young, probably about 4 or 5, and on the back in her mothers hand writing was _'I love you, my dearest Alice'_ and underneath that was the mailing address for her friend back home. She quietly wrote out a long and complicated letter to which she had intended to send after she left and was safe. 

_**'W,** _

_**I know it is probably ignorant and foolish to contact you after all these years, but I figured now might be a time to explain everything in more detail than you've heard in the past, but first of all, I wish to apologize. I never meant for me to be isolated in the house or to be taken out of school so young and I never, ever meant to shut you out like I did. None of it was in mine or your control and you never deserved to have me turn my back on you like I had after mom passed. I don't expect you to forgive me right away or even at all, but I hope you know how truly sorry I am for how things went.** _

_**When mom first got sick, my father couldn't afford a nurse or a maid to stay at home and look after her and he wasn't ready to pull his oldest out of school to take care of her so I guess I was the odd one out. I had to learn young how to cook and clean and properly care for someone when all I wanted to do was be at school with you. You were my best friend in the whole world, but for such a short time. When mom passed away, my father got...complicated. He drank more, yelled at Michael more and was more strict with me than he had ever been before. After the burial, he pulled me out of school completely and hired a tutor with the life insurance compensation money we got from mom's passing. I spent the next 6 years studying at home to finish school, but after everything I did so he would stay sane, he still wouldn't let me out of the house. Not to see you. Not to see anyone unless I was with Michael and he wanted nothing to do with my friends or anything in my life so my only freedom was to stay with him and his friends.** _

_**I can't hide that I had changed then and I can't deny I changed now. You see, every time you saw me out with my brother, I was trying to be on their good side. And for some unknown reason, being on their good side meant being a completely different person. Looking back, I never should have joined their gang of misfits. Every time you tried to talk to me I wanted to hug you tight and never let go because you were the only one who seemed to understand the circumstances. But I couldn't. And you didn't deserve any of it. But no matter how much I wanted to go back to being your friend, my father and my brother got in the way of that. And without reason! I tried so hard to get them to let me see you even if you had to come to our house, but they still denied it. I hate to admit it, but I built a wall. A wall that seemed impossible to break.** _

_**You also seemed to be the only person that didn't mind that I was of German decent, so when it came time for my family to move back to the Fatherland, I was so heartbroken when I was told I couldn't even say goodbye to you. I ask to write you letters, I asked to call your house, but every time, I was denied. The only thing I had left of you was looking out the window and seeing you walk by the house with your brother Henry. I never got to say goodbye and I never got to tell you, in person, how truly sorry I was and how grateful I was, and still am, that you let me be your friend. There aren't enough words to describe the happiness the thought of you brought me in such difficult times.** _

_**Now I don't doubt you've forgotten me by now. God knows how we've both changed. I just want you to know, that no matter where life may take us, just know I will always think of you, if even for a second. I ask that you don't try to write back because I will not have a proper address after today.** _

_**I wish you all the best, and much, much more.** _

_**A. N.'** _

With her letter complete and her heart aching, Alice tucked the letter inside an envelope and wrote the deliver address on the front before tucking it carefully into a pocket in her coat next to a few bills of currency and doing up the button to secure it. After she cleaned up her writing spot it was quarter to 12 and the car should be in front of the house in 15 minutes time. All she had to do was wait. She had on a pair of trousers and a loose fitting button up shirt she kept from America. They had been Michael's hand-me-downs and fit her perfectly now. The shoes she wore were worn out, but they would make due. Her coat wasn't specifically feminine or masculine which was a nice thing to have for a night like this. 

_10 minutes._

Alice watched the clock that hung in her room as she sat on her bed, her hands clasped and held up to her face as she said a small, quiet prayer. Her family had never been religious before, but on occasion, she prayed in hopes it helped her situation. 

"Dear God, stand by my side tonight as I leave this house, for I cannot call it home. Guide me as I start my journey of second chance redemption. Dear God, if you cannot stand by me tonight, please be by my friend's side. Guide him through a life of happiness unlike the life I live today. Amen." she whispered into her hands, her elbows resting on her knees as she went back to watching the clock. 

_5 minutes._

Her leg started to bounce without her command as her nerves got more and more wild. There was a knot in her throat and a nest of bees in her gut. Her palms started to sweat as she watched the hands on the clock move second by second. After a minute, she heard footsteps in the hallway. She silently prayed it was her father or her brother just retreating to their room for the night. 

"Alice, Elias is here to see you." the deep voice of her father boomed from the other side of the door. her heart seemed to stop. This was a complication in the process. Elias wouldn't let her out of his sight if he was here. 

"Father...can you tell him now isn't a good time. I'm not feeling too well at the moment." She asked in a quietly voice, trying her best to seem ill. 

"Alice, you know I want you to tell him if something is wrong. You need to be a big girl now." Her father said before footsteps went away. Alice waited until it was 11:59 before throwing her coat over her shoulders and leaving her room. She planned to use the excuse of chills as to why she wore so much clothing. But she didn't know how far it would go. 

"Ahh! Alice, my dear. Why so glum?" Elias greeted, standing in the middle of the foyer. 

"I'm not feeling too well tonight. Chills and such." She explained as she took her final step off the stairs. Just as Elias started talking, Michael walked through the front door and Alice could see the car matching the description waiting out front of the house. 

"Father, there's an odd looking car sitting out front." Michael brought up, leaving the door open. The curiosity of Elias and Hans was shown as they both stepped outside onto the front step. Alice followed, mentally marking a course for the car. The metal gate was open in the front which meant easy escape. 

"Michael, what did I tell you about leaving the gate open!" her father scolded her brother. 

"Father, Michael is probably just tired and simply forgot. I can go close it for him." She told her father, only to have him wave a hand at her, signalling he doesn't care. Her nerves didn't settle and her heart beat faster each passing moment. She slowly stepped down the front steps to make it seem like she wasn't in a rush to close the gate. As she touched pavement, she heard her father and Elias talking, the door close, but the talking continue. She looked back and they had decided to sit and have a smoke in the moonlight. Alice reached the gate and moved it so it was perpendicular to the stone wall that enclosed the house. She took one look back at her father and Elias before walking out of the yard, closing the gate behind her. 

"Alice! What are you doing?!" her father yelled, starting to race down the steps. She hurried to the car as the back door opened. She practically launched herself into the car as the driver began to pull away from the house. She sat up and closed the door as her father raced after the car yelling obscenities. 

"Alice! You useless hag come back!" was the last thing she heard from her father as the house disappeared behind her and the car drove faster away. She felt her pocket in a panic but was relieved when she felt the envelope and the money right where they should be. 

"Anywhere you need to go before we leave Berlin, ma'am?" the driver asked her, looking at her through the rear view mirror. 

"I need to send a letter to America. Where do you think I should send it from?" She inquired after answering his question. 

"Hang onto it until we get out of Germany. It's not safe here for you." He told her before going back to focusing on the road. Alice relaxed a bit, sitting back into the seat and resting her head on the window. If they made it out of Berlin, she would be free. All she had to do was survive. 

-

After days of travelling, Alice and her driver made it to Switzerland, where she dropped the letter off at the postal office. Just in time too because the truck moving the mail was leaving soon. With the letter gone away and soon to reach home, Alice followed the driver into another office filled with typewriters on desks and a man or woman behind each one. 

"This is where we do most of the legal stuff for you today. After, you move onto France where you will be stationed to train. Our commander has a great idea for someone like you." The driver told her as they reached a small office on the second floor of the building. 

"Sir, Alice Noether is here." The driver greeted as he opened the door to the office. Alice watched as the man waved them both in. The driver pulled back a chair in front of the desk for her and she sat down. Her nervous feeling had left her legs feeling like mush so sitting down was a bit of a relief. The man behind the desk was going through papers as the driver left the office, closing the door behind him. 

"Alice...Noether. Youngest child in the Noether household. 16 years old. Mother passed away at 10 and is survived by Michael and Hans Noether. Correct?" the man read off a paper before looking up at the young girl before him. Alice swallowed the lump in her throat before she could answer. 

"Yes sir." she said quietly. She felt the familiar sting in her eyes and a tingle in the tip of her nose and she refrained from bursting into tears. 

"And you wish to remove your last name in place of your mother's maiden name?" he questioned. Alice only nodded. She feared if she said any real words, the tears might slip and she wouldn't be able to control them. A million thoughts ran across her mind as the dark haired man wrote some things down before standing up and leaving the office. Alice let out a long held in breath before hiding her face in her hands. She felt a wave of emotions build up inside her as memories from living in that household for so long without her mother came to mind immediately. She felt herself tremble before the thought of her friend came up to the front of her mind. She looked up from her hands. The office was in the corner of the building which meant she could see the sun shining through the window in the corner of the room. She thought back to when her and her friend would be out of the house from sunrise until practically sun set during the summer, only going home for dinner which most times Alice would find herself at her friends house for dinner. Not that her mother minded.

The thought of her childhood brought warmth to her heart and the sun shining through the window brought warmth to her face as the man came back and sat behind the desk. Unlike when he left, Alice was calm now. Almost like nothing could harm her even though she knew very well everything around her could harm her. 

"This, is your new identification and passport. Changed last name and no middle name as requested. You are a citizen of France now. You are free from what ever life you leave behind." the man told her with a sincere smile. Alice took the small beige book from the man and studied it. Everything was the same except for her last name. 

"Thank you so, so much. You have no idea how happy and lucky i am to be out of there." She thanked, an uncontrollable smile plastered to her face. She was free for the first time since her mother passed away. 

"I'm just doing my job." he said with a smile before shifting through some more papers. "Now, we discuss your new life." He started, picking up a file folder with her name on it. "Our organization has been looking for new candidates for a program start in the first world war. We had to cut to recruiting instead of open trials due to safety hazards, but I believe you might have a chance at it." he told her as she listened intently. 

The program was sort of like a spy agency. Train the candidates like soldiers and then some. Candidates learn everything from basic field maneuvers and basic medical skills to exquisite hand to hand combat and moving vehicle exits- jumping out of moving planes, boats ect. Alice already had some knowledge in fighting and how to shoot a pistol, but she was sure she could pick up new tricks quite easy. Training was to be done solo for her since they can't find any more candidates. 

"Once you land in France, you will be moved to England where you will complete your training until further notice. Good luck." the man told her before the driver came back in and escorted Alice from the building and into the car where they would drive from Switzerland to France and from France, Alice took a train to the shore where she boarded a boat to England before getting into another car before arriving at an airfield, a smaller airfield than that of Upottery Airfield, where she learned was only a few miles away. 

From there, she partook in physical training: running, agility, strength. She seemed to forget all about home life and even life back in America. She aced any classroom assignment despite not finishing school and she quickly took up skills with any gun she was given. After a year, the organization was sure she could move on. She had completed physical and technical training. Next was field maneuvers and field combat. She often fought against her trainer in hand to hand practice simply because there was no other candidates. In fact, many were impressed and a little bit doubtful that the only candidate they did find was a woman. More so, a woman of a broken home background. 

After a couple years, her 18th birthday wasn't so dreaded anymore because she didn't have to worry about the arranged marriage. Of course, the thought of her father and Elias hunting her down every day after she left still haunted her. The things they would say and do to her if they found her before she got to the airfield scared her to death and whenever she thought of it, all she had to do was remind herself that they can't hurt her here. 

-

After three years of training, the organization was moved back to France where they had been discovered and disbanded by Nazis. Alice had managed to sneak away in a Jeep with her rifle, some food rations and enough ammo to last for a while. After not hearing from anyone in the organization for over a month, Alice managed to get a radio working in the small radio shack she controlled and heard a very much disturbing message. 

_"The organization known as The Underground Allies, has been disbanded. Any and all people who participated have been caught and executed. All for one! We will not let this outsider be free! We know who you are and we will find you!"_ the voice over the radio threatened before the message played back on a loop. Alice let it play over and over and over and over again before it clicked that they probably still had her old documents on file and they knew where she went. Her heart sank to the floor and her mind started racing at 100 miles per hour as she shut the radio off and shut down the shack so no one could trace her signal. The Axis power had control over the beach head and France which meant she was inevitably surrounded. But she knew the American troops would be here soon to make an advance and push the enemy further inland. Alice had been crammed into this shack and sleeping on a chair for so long she was almost ready to join the Americans. 

**~End of Chapter 2~**


	3. Cabin Fever

**Normandy, France  
** **June 5th, 1944**

**-**

Alice had counted down the days until the landings on the beach. She had her rifle, her ammo and her bag packed and ready to go. She was dressed head-to-toe in American military OD uniforms the organization managed to scrounge up before they were disbanded. Alice had removed the American flag off the shoulder of her jacket, but kept it with her as a reminder of where she came from. Her parents were born and raised in Germany, but she was born and raised in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on American soil. She lived in Germany for a couple months, but never called it home, never even considered it home. 

Alice had the small bag over her shoulder and over one side of her neck. It sat on her back, only containing food rations and a couple medical supplies so it wasn't all that heavy. Her ammo belt was around her waist as she fixed the laces on her boots. She wasn't military personnel, but she was a damn good fighter. She believed in a different world where Hitler and her father weren't looked up to by the fascist followers. If you asked her when she was maybe 15 if she knew if she would consider fighting in the war, her younger self would have laughed in your face. Now, Alice is almost unrecognizable. Being exhausted from training had seemed to thin out her face a bit and her build was short and slender, but strong. She had no problem fighting men who might be twice her size because she knew techniques to take them down and gain her an advantage. She also wasn't afraid to get her hands bloody. 

Her first assignment was to track and capture a Nazi commander and interrogate him until he spilled any useful information or he died. Many people in the organization said she had a few screws loose from living in such a household all those years and some even said she was just born crazy and the organization woke up the wide-eyed killer within. Alice disagreed with all of those. Alice just believed in a world where people don't have to be caught in a war zone or be enslaved and slaughtered for their religion or background. 

-

The sound of planes overhead woke Alice from her train of thought as she grabbed her rifle and slung it over her shoulder. She unlocked the reinforced shack doors for the first time in months and saw planes flying overhead and black masses falling from those planes. Confused, she ran from the shack, up the beach and inland towards a tree line. She ran as fast as she could before the wave of planes hit her position. Even when she hit the treeline, she didn't stop running. She ran further and further into the forest before collapsing next to a stump. She heaved in air as she struggled to catch her breath. She had just sprinted a whole mile without stopping or slowing down. 

Once she was able to calm down, she tried to look at her surroundings in the dark. Bombs and guns going off in the distant didn't bother her, but the sound of bombs hitting planes and bullets hitting the dark masses in the sky terrified her. She kept her eyes on the sky as a plane flew by and the first thing flew out. Hoisting her rifle up on her shoulder, she followed the falling mass as it plummeted through the air with a parachute holding it from falling to it's death. As Alice got closer, she realized that the mass falling from the sky wasn't a thing, it was a person. Live people were jumping from planes into Normandy, similar to what Alice trained to do for about a month in the end of her training. She watched as the person landed in a clearing before getting snagged on a branch, stopping only a few feet from the ground. Silently, the person unclipped from their parachute and landed on the ground with a thud, their rifle still attached to the parachute. 

"There's no way anyone hit the drop zone." The man mumbled to himself as Alice hid behind a tree. She needed to talk to this man, but she didn't want him to think he was the enemy. Quietly, she pulled the rifle off her shoulder and evaluated her situation. The man was standing about two yards away from her. She quickly tossed her rifle his way. It landed about half way with a thud and snapping a few branches of ground cover with it. 

"Who's there?" The man asked, getting low to the ground. "Flash!" he whispered harshly. Alice didn't understand why. 

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not a soldier." She told him in a low voice. The man stood up a bit and looked in her direction. 

"Come out. Now. And slowly." He demanded. Alice put her hands up at about shoulder height as she stepped out from the tree and closer to her rifle. 

"My name is Alice. I am the last survivor of the Underground Allies organization. What's your name and outfit?" she asked, picking up her rifle and slinging it over her shoulder. 

"Lieutenant Richard Winters. 506 Parachute Infantry, 101st Airborne. What are you doing out here if you're not a soldier?" he answered, followed by another question. 

"I've been locked up in a radio shack by the beach. I heard that Americans were coming so I waited. And now I found you." she explained. She stepped closer to the man so she could see him better. 

"You sound like you're an American yourself." he stated. 

"My parents are from Germany. Moved to America before I was born. I was born and raised there before we moved back. I fled my home a couple months after we got here and haven't been back since. I've been fighting the enemy as best I can with no back up." She explained in more detail, pushing her blonde hair behind her ear. She cut it short enough it didn't bother her, but it was to shot to tie back at the moment. 

"Well, you're welcome to join my company. As long as you promise you won't try to kill my men." He said skeptically. 

"I would, but I can't. Not now at least. Too many eyes." She said, shaking her head and waving a finger in a circular motion. "But when the time comes, I'll find you, Lieutenant Winters." She said before running off into the night. The encounter confused the Lieutenant. Actually, confused was an understatement. Baffled and bewildered seemed to fit better for the man. A million questions along the lines of _'who was that woman'_ and _'why was she in the middle of the Allied invasion'_ danced through his mind as he turned his focus on reaching a rendezvous point of some kind and finding his men. 

Alice, on the other hand, had different tasks to tend to; like finding out how far this airplane raid stretched out. Alice knew there was good chances that each of the men that jumped from those planes was either dead or missed their destination by a long shot. Alice couldn't help but wonder how scared these men probably were. The chances of them being trained and shipped out with no previous military experience was so high it should've been a kite, or in this case, maybe a plane. 

Alice kept an eye on the sky and the trees around her as she crept farther into the forest, looking for both Americans and Krauts. If she ran into more Americans, she knew she had to run away without getting shot. She wanted her only american contact to be this Lieutenant Winters. From the brief encounter, he seemed to be a man who knew what he was doing, followed by the book almost. Alice didn't have a doubt in her mind that he was going to make it through the war. He seemed resourceful, smart. He knew what he was doing, but so did Alice, and it didn't stop her from continuing through the forest. 

-

As Lieutenant Winters met up with a few of his men and an extra man from Able Company, he kept his encounter to himself. The last thing he needed was for his men to think he'd gone crazy after telling them he ran into a young woman who then ran away into the darkness. The small group of men continued through with their mission, eventually running into a Kraut convoy and obliterating them. All without knowing Alice was following, but at a meaningful distance. There must have been about 15 men following the Lieutenant as they continued through the night and eventually into morning. 

As the group wandered through the marsh, knee-deep in muddy water, Alice followed but in the tree line and out of sight. The sunlight made it difficult to stay unseen especially now that the men thought they saw someone and fired a couple warning shots into her general area. None stuck though, as she climbed into the trees and moved from there. Her search for more men was practically useless so staying within range of this small squad seemed like the better option. Alice had managed to get a good look at some of the men. The one seemed to be more of a leader like Lieutenant Winters, to which Alice made the assumption that he was likely a Sergeant of some kind. There was another Sergeant, who seemed to be in a bad mood, but they were in Normandy so no one could really blame him, followed by many Privates or Corporals. The group as a whole seemed like they preferred to be a rag-tag group, but could be more than serious if they needed to be. 

As the group came into contact with another American soldier watching about 20 German soldiers, Alice ducked farther away and eventually followed the road to a farmhouse area where more men were scattered trying to catch their breaths from the jump. Staying out of the way and out of any line of sight, Alice observed all the different companies within her range of sight. The thick amount of leaves at the top of the tree she was in seemed to provide the perfect amount of camouflage cover for her observations. 

Alice watched as the group of Easy Company met up with more of their company. They sorted out their equipment, said hello to their fellow paratroopers and scrounged up something to eat or drink before they were all called into a building with Lieutenant Winters. After about 30 minutes, the company came back out and Alice went back to watching Easy Company. 

Ever since her encounter with Lieutenant Winters and his offer to join his company, Alice had been thinking about it, but wanted to know what kind of trouble she'd be getting herself into. She watched as a few of the men sat in their own little cliques or groups. Alice didn't doubt that they were all friends, but it was certain that there was groups of men who were closer than others. Like the two men who were walking almost shoulder-to-shoulder. The one looked familiar, but Alice couldn't pin point where she seen him before. 

When Alice noticed that Easy Company was about to move out, she lowered down from her perch, she wandered farther away from the camp to a safe spot to rest for a bit. Her best guess was that they were going after the German guns that she kept hearing in the back ground of all her thoughts. She cracked open a pack of stale crackers that were all cracked down the middle. She munched on her snack as she wrote down some pros and cons of joining Lieutenant Winters and his company of men who probably haven't seen a woman since they started their basic training. Not to mention, they probably would push her aside thinking she can't do any good for the company. She wrote that down as a con. Soon enough, she had a complete list of pros and cons and was ready to evaluate her options. 

_' **Pros** : - not fighting alone - not traveling alone - better chance of survival - ?make new companions? - easier to find resources -   
**Cons: -** only woman in a company of men - not taken seriously - physical disadvantage(s) - credibility is questioned - men might act like Hans and Michael -'_

Alice was most scared that the men of the company might treat her the same way her father and brother did: controlling and manipulative. Alice didn't want a repeat of that so she had to think carefully. She could join, fight as hard as she could, but if any of them decide they want to act like her 'family', she would leave instantly and travel through Europe by herself like she had been doing. And she would let Winters know of that the minute she saw him. The only question would be how would she find Lieutenant Winters alone without gaining too much attention. She figured that if she wrote a note and left it where she knew Lieutenant Winters would be, that he would find it. The only problem would be that she didn't know where he would be or if someone else would find it. After some thinking, she scratched that idea out. And by the time she was done thinking of a plan, it was close to dark and the sound of trucks rolling in brought Alice back to her perch in the tree, her note book in hand. She flipped through the pages, remembering a page or two she translated a German radio message about the location of some guns and shit. She ripped the pages out and folded them in an envelope before putting her notebook away. She waited until it was dark and on of the men walked away from his group. She prayed that this man wasn't as jumpy as the others may be as she quietly climbed down from her tree and followed him down a road and behind a building. She managed to get ahead of him and around the corner of the building before he got there. She stood up straight with her arms up, to show she meant no harm, and ready for him to find her. 

As he rounded the corner, she heard him mumble to himself about something she couldn't say. She waited for him to find her and when he did, he jumped back a it in fear and pointed his rifle at her. 

"Who the hell are you?!" he asked in a panicked tone. 

"I need you to do me a favor." she said, ignoring his question. 

"Are you a Kraut? 'Cause I ain't doin' no favors for no Kraut!" he exclaimed, but not loud enough to attract any attention to them. 

"I'm not. My name is Alice. And I need you to do a favor for me." she repeated as the man stepped closer, the end of the rifle getting closer to her face. 

"What do you want?" he asked, trying to stop his arms from shaking when he realized he was talking to a woman. 

"I need you to give this to Lieutenant Winters. It's important." she told him, handing him the envelope in her hand while holding the other in the air. The man hesitated before stepping closer and taking the envelope, but he didn't step back which allowed Alice to get a good look at him. It was the familiar looking man she spotted earlier. 

"What is it?" He asked, talking about the envelope. Now that Alice thought about it, his voice sounded familiar as well, but she still couldn't figure it out. 

"Important information. About a message I decoded over a German radio. Read it if you want, but I need you to give it to Lieutenant Winters." She told him. His expression read something confused as he tucked the envelope into his pocket. 

"Who are you?" he questioned. There was no denying that he was confused, probably because he ran into a woman in the middle of France and awful close to the war itself. This man hadn't heard of any woman fighting in the war besides secretaries and nurses. Alice couldn't blame him, she was the odd one out in any situation. 

"I'm the last surviving member of the Underground Allied organization. I've been fighting as many Germans as I can alone." she explained as the man stepped back. 

"You're crazy, lady. You really are." he stated, continuing to step back slowly. "But I'll get that thing to Winters for you. As long as you promise not to shoot me in the back when I try to leave." he said, stopping a few feet from Alice. 

"I wouldn't shoot a fellow American." she stated before putting her hands down and walking away from the man, leaving him dumbfounded and even more confused than before. Alice went back into the treeline and found a different perch in a different tree for the night. She was determined to find Lieutenant Winters in the morning. No matter what. 

**~End of Chapter 3~**


	4. Facing The  Inevitable

**~The Next Day~**

A knock on the officer door alerted Lieutenant Winters and the commanding officers around him. Lieutenant Buck Compton opened the door to reveal a startled looking Sergeant Gaurnere. 

"Lieutenant Winters?" He greeted, fumbling with his words and fiddling with an envelope in his hands. 

"Yes, Sergeant?" the Lieutenant acknowledged, putting down the pencil in his hand and standing up straight to face his platoon leader. 

"Can I...can I talk to you for a minute?" the nervous Sergeant asked, shifting his weight from one leg to another. Winters had only nodded before leading himself and Gaurnere out of the office, away from the other Lieutenants. 

"What is it, Gaurnere?" he asked as they left the building, placing their helmets on their heads in the process. 

"Something weird happened to me last night, sir. And I mean _really_ weird." he started as they stopped by some empty crates that were stacked up. "There was this lady...she was hiding behind one of the buildings. Said she needed this to get to you, sir." he explained, handing the Lieutenant the envelope. By now, Winters was just as confused and was wondering if it was the same girl he had met on D-day in the forest after he landed. 

"Did she say anything else?" he asked, opening the envelope. 

"She said she was the last surviving member of some underground group. The, uh, Underground Allied Organization I believe it was." Gaurnere answered, scratching at the back of his neck nervously. Lieutenant Winters read the letter, his eyes darting across the paper. They were German plans for the town of Carentan, written in both German and then decoded into English. Winters thought to himself for a second before speaking. 

"Did you recognize the girl at all? What did she look like?" he asked, folding the papers and sliding them back into the envelope. 

"I'm not going to lie to you, sir, but she looked familiar to me. I think....I think I grew up with her." he answered, the saddened look in his eyes was noticed immediately by Winters. "Blonde hair, looked like American OD's, but the flag was taken off the arm." he added, answering the Lieutenant's last question. Winters recalled the short blonde hair and the familiar looking OD's. 

"Alright, Sergeant. For now, we keep this between us. Don't tell anyone what you saw or heard. If she shows up, act like you haven't seen her before. This girl...she found me after I landed on D-day, I gave her the offer to join the company, but she refused, but I think she might show up again. And if she does, try to bring her to me. And if she doesn't comply, just tell me. No one else, got it?" the Lieutenant ordered. 

"Yes, sir." Gaurnere nodded. "But, sir, if you find her before me, could you let me know. I honestly think I might know this girl." he added, picking at the tips of his fingers in a nervous manner. 

"Yeah. You'll be the first to know. Now go get ready. We're moving out to take Carentan." Winters told him before walking away, back towards the building they were in previously. Winters had no idea how he was going to explain the new found information he just received about their next move against the Germans. Of course, there was time to figure out a new plan since they had to move through a forest for miles on end before reaching the town of Carentan. So while Lieutenant Winters brought the decoded message to HQ, Sergeant Gaurnere went back to his post with his friends, acting like nothing ever happened, even though what happened was slowly eating him from the inside. 

-

Alice had already started to make her way to the town of Carentan hours before Easy Company and Fox Company even left town. With a head start, she managed to creep through the marsh before the sun set low for the night. Easy Company would have to move through the wetland during the night, which would make visibility worse for them, but provided extra cover from the German eyes. 

Alice stopped for a break as soon as she left the wetland area and found cover in the trees. Drinking some water and munching on some stale crackers, Alice sat on a stump in silence, listening for any sounds around her that might be trouble. After hearing a few twigs snap in the distance, Alice packed up and got ready to leave before being tackled to the ground. She fought and managed to hit her attacker hard enough that he rolled off her and stood up at the same time she did. Her attacker, donning a Kraut uniform, came at her a second time, but with a knife. She dodged and rolled out of the way as she searched for the knife she kept strapped to her leg. 

"Auf der suche nach diesem?" he taunted, holding up the knife that was previously secured at Alice's leg.

 _'Looking for this? Really? This guy needs a lesson on taunting skills.'_ Alice thought to herself as she ran at the man, ducking under his arm as he swung with the knife. Before she passed the man completely, she brought her knee up to his gut in one swift motion before kicking her raised leg back and knocking the knife out of his hand as he crumbled to the ground. Alice wasted no time in grabbing the knife and driving it straight into the man's skull, killing him instantly. With a tight grip on the handle, Alice stood up, taking the knife with her before cleaning the blood off it with the Kraut uniform and tucking it back into it's holster that was strapped tightly to her left leg. 

Alice didn't want to be behind on schedule so she grabbed her bag and started to jog through the forest, only stopping when she reached the edge of the forest that overlooked a field that moved into a hill before the road entered Carentan. She adjusted her rifle so that it was resting on her back as she laid down in the grass and began crawling towards the town. She was unsure of how many Kraut soldiers would be stationed at this end of the town, all she knew is that they were there and to avoid them spotting her in the dead of night, crawling through the tall grass of the field until she reached the hill crest seemed to be a good way to go unnoticed. 

Alice stopped immediately when she saw a few Kraut soldiers appear at the top of the hill coming out of Carentan. She paused as they just stood there, lighting up a couple smokes and talking about nonsense. They hadn't spotted her or heard her and to prevent both of those from happening, she stopped for a break. She stayed still, not moving a muscle as she tried to slow her breath and calm down. Her nervous got all riled up and the adrenaline started pumping as soon as she saw those Kraut soldiers having what seemed like a smoke break at the top of the hill. 

Watching with a nervous eye, Alice remained unseen and unheard as the soldiers put out their smoke and returned to the town as the sun started to come up. It would be a matter of time before Easy Company would show up at the town and fight to take over and push out the Germans. So as the sun started to rise and the slightest sliver of light shown over the horizon, Alice started to crawl through the field once more until she reached the hill, to which she crouched her way up until she had view of the town, or at least part of it. Looking back at where the treeline met the open field, Alice spotted some American soldiers perched behind some trees, scoping out the area. Quickly, she moved over the hill crest and out of sight from the Americans, but was in full view of the Germans. 

Without thinking, Alice darted from the road to behind a building without alerting the Germans around her. Things seemed to be buttoned up and silent from the Germans ever since the soldiers went back into town. Quietly, Alice shifted her rifle to be in front of her as she rounded the building she was hiding behind. She peered around the corner, making sure the coast was clear, before darting behind another building and squeezing through the tight gap between the building and the stone wall that was built behind it before coming across a hole in the building. She peered inside and saw the windows were still intact and the door hadn't been kicked in yet. She stepped inside, switching her rifle for her pistol with a silencer attachment. She cleared through the main floor before quietly stepped up stairs to find an empty second floor with empty rooms. Taking the opportunity for perfect cover and a perfect place for sniping, she pushed a large table over the entrance of the stairs so she wasn't surprised by anything. There was a short dresser next to the windows so she used that as a stand for her rifle. 

She watched for movement in the windows across from her as she spotted Germans setting up their guns in the building that had full view of the road she just came up on. She waited...and waited....and waited.....and waited. Until she saw one of the German set ups aim and then start firing at the road. She moved her rifle in the window to point at that building as all of the other guns took turns firing at the road. Before long, she heard shouting in both German and English as one man ran towards the building, popped a grenade through the window and ducked below the window as an explosion went off, shooting dust and debris out the window. Alice began firing at the building full of Krauts. Soon enough, more of Easy Company began pouring into town, firing at the Krauts who tried to run to different positions and sending grenades into buildings and clearing them out. She easily spotted Lieutenant Winters and then after, the man she met and gave the letter to a couple nights ago. But her spottings didn't let her get distracted, she continued to fire at the Germans, killing a few and injuring a few more before they were taken care of by the Americans.

Before long, the shooting stopped as bombs and martyrs fell from the sky, lining the road with rubble. Alice ran off the back of the building and landed on the stone wall below here with a thud as a martyr hit the spot she was just in. A piece of wood flew and came into contact with her, sending her off the wall the other way. She landed on the grass on the other side, but wasted no time in standing back up and climbing over the wall. Her head hurt like hell and her left side ached from the fall, but she didn't let it bother her as she ran past members of Easy Company without really being noticed before taking cover in an alley way. 

She stayed there to recuperate as the shooting came to a cease and the bombs didn't fall again. Now would be the time to find Winters. She slung her rifle over her shoulder as she crouched by the end of the alley way. She looked to the right and saw no one before looking to the left only to be spotted by a couple men. 

"Hey!" They shouted as they ran towards her. Alice stood up and held her arms in the air like she had done a couple nights prior. She stepped back into the alley as the men pointed their guns at her and practically cornered her. 

"Don't shoot, please. I don't mean any harm to you." she told them, not moving. 

"Who are you? You an Nazi?" one of them questioned. Alice looked at his OD uniform and saw the tag _'Hoobler'_ on his chest. 

"I'm not a Nazi. I can assure you. My name is Alice." she told them in a calm manner before looking at the other man, who had a radio attached to his back. His tag read _'Luz'._

"Why is a woman so close to a war, anyway?" the first man, Hoobler, asked. 

"I'm the last surviving member of the Underground Allied Organization. If you take me to Lieutenant Winters, he'll tell you it's true. I met him after he landed on D-day." she explained. The two men shared a worried glance before the second man, Luz, grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the alley. She kept her hands up, but not above her head as the two kept a good grip on her arms, leading her through the town of Carentan until they found Lieutenant Winters. The trio earned a few confused and angry looks from other men as the two practically dragged Alice towards the makeshift Company aid station, where Lieutenant Winters was being treated for a bullet ricochet in the shin. 

"Lieutenant Winters?" Hoobler said in almost a question. The Lieutenant looks up from his leg and immediately spotted the woman held on the spot by the two men. 

"We found her in an alley, close to where we came in, sir. Said you knew her." Luz explained. 

"Yes. She found me on D-day. Let her go, will you." Lieutenant ordered as the man let go of her arms. She shifted her rifle up onto her shoulder as the men took a step or two away from her. 

"You weren't kidding when you said you'd find me again." he said as the medic, Doc Roe, bandaged up his leg wound and stood up, glancing at the woman nervously. "I got those decoded messages you sent. They helped a lot." he continued, waving Hoobler and Luz away. he struggled to walk a bit, but managed to wave the woman outside of the aid station where they could talk. 

"I've been thinking about your offer to join your company." she told him as they walked side by side, earning even more confused stares as they walked toward the Company CP where Lieutenants Nixon, Compton and Fox Company's Lieutenant were standing, talking about the attack. 

"Oh, yeah. And what did you think?" he questioned as they stopped by the door, turned to look at each other. 

"I'll accept your offer. It's almost inevitable that I will run out of resources sooner or later and traveling with a company may be better. There's only so much I can do alone." she told him with a small, friendly smile. 

"Well, let's see what the other Lieutenants think of this first before I declare you part of the group." he said, opening the door to the CP and walking in. Alice took a look around her as many men watched her with a careful eye. She noticed the man she met a couple nights ago watching her as well, but his expression was different than that of the other men. She stepped into the CP, closing the door behind her as Nixon and Compton just stared at her. 

"Who's this?" Compton asked, pointing to the woman standing in the doorway. 

"This is Alice. She's the last surviving member of the Underground Allied Organization: and underground military unit that trained and worked spies of sorts. I asked Colonel Sink about it and he said they're known for tracking and kidnapping German officers and interrogating them for information. He said they had a sort of a rogue agent, someone who moved more in the dark and alone unlike their previous agents. And that rogue agent happens to be Alice." Lieutenant Winters explains, giving more detail in hopes they accepted her easier. 

"I think I've heard a thing or two about that group. Got disbanded a while back." Nixon stated, not taking his eyes off the young girl. 

"It was a Nazi interrogation gone wrong. Our agents didn't ensure that they weren't followed. My commander gave me what I have now and told me to run, so I did. I've been laying low ever since. Then I heard about the Allied invasion of Normandy and I figured it would be the perfect time to join the fight. I found Lieutenant Winters when he landed." She explained, stepping towards the table they were crowded around. Commanding officers in the room looked at her like she had grown a third eye in the middle of her forehead. 

"I figured she might be able to join Easy for the duration of our time here. Sink gave me some files, she's a good fighter. Not just that, but she excels in stealth, tracking and undercover work." Winters added. 

"I don't doubt it. All alone through occupied France, that takes some serious skill and patience, but I'm more concerned about the men. Not that she can't handle her own, but what if they don't like this order?" Lieutenant Compton stated his feelings. "No offence." he added, giving the girl a sincere look. 

"None taken. I weight out the pros and cons myself a couple days ago. If I was to join your company, I wouldn't have to worry about running out of resources. If I continue to go alone, I'd be stranded. I've done much of the same training as your men have, I know how many of your field tactics work. You wouldn't have much to worry about." she told them, shifting her rifle higher up on her shoulder. 

"She knows what she's doing. She could come with us as soon as we move out on our next attack." Winters stated, hoping what they said was enough to convince his fellow officers that she wouldn't be a problem. 

"I don't see why it would be much of a problem. I mean, she'd just be another fighter helping out the Allied forces. She's been doing this long before we even got here." Nixon said, seemingly agreeing with Winters' plan. 

"I already got the go ahead from Sink before we even took Carentan. I wanted to run this by you first." Winters added, his arms crossed over his chest. It didn't even need to be spoken in words, but the two officers seemed to be okay with this girl joining the company. 

"I'll go fill in Lieutenant Welsh. Buck can go tell the men before we move out." Nixon stated, grabbing his rifle off the table as Winters turned to Alice. 

"I'll go scrounge up some more gear for you." He told her as Lieutenant Compton, or more formally, Buck, started for the door. 

"Thank you." she said before following the Lieutenant out of the company CP. 

"So what's your story?" Buck asked, placing his helmet on top of his head as they stepped into the sunlight. 

"My parents were German. Moved to America before I was born. My mother died of pneumonia when I was 10. My father moved us back to the Fatherland in '39 and I ran away a few months after. Trying to avoid an arranged marriage set for after my 18th birthday. Joined to U.A.O when I was 16 and have been working with them ever since." she explained as they walked towards a fountain where Easy Company was gathered, awaiting instruction. A young man, Albert Blithe, had been staring at the sky, not moving, not talking, but he wasn't injured. 

"Sounds like one hell of a life." Buck commented as the faces of the confused men turned to them. 

"I'm sure my father is still looking for me. He works with the Nazi Regime. Training and commanding new Nazi troops. It's an understatement to say I don't agree with his views." She added, shifting her rifle up on her shoulder. 

"Well, I'm glad you decided to join our rag-tag crew and not some other company like Fox Company or Dog Company." he told her as they took their spots in front of the Company. "Men, listen up! There's been a change in the company." he started before one of the men spoke up. 

"Who's the broad, Buck!?" one of them called, earning a few laughs from his peers around him. Alice thought nothing of it as she spotted the familiar looking man, who hadn't taken his eyes off of her. 

"This is Alice. She's the last surviving member of an ally group created here in France called the Underground Allied Organization. Winters has seen it fit that she join Easy Company for the duration of our time here in Europe. All of us Lieutenants expect that you show her some respect because whether you like it or not, she will be traveling with us and fighting with us. She's done much of the same training you did in Camp Toccoa and maybe even more. " he explained. The men didn't say anything else after that: no taunts, no jokes, no rude statements like Alice had expected. "Sergeant Gaurnere, I'm placing her in your squad once we move out." 

_Gaurnere._

"Yes sir." The familiar man said, still staring at Alice. She looked at the man quick and read the tag on his OD's. ' _Gaurnere_ '. The name fit the familiar look he had about him and it hit Alice like a load of bricks. 

"That will be all for now, men. I expect we're moving out soon, but I'll let you know when. As you were." Buck finished before turning to Alice. "You can probably meet Winters back at Company CP. You have any problems, you come to me." He told her before walking away. To prevent embarrassment, she followed him until he split off in a separate direction. A million things danced across her mind as Alice found a quiet, shady corner to think. The man looked familiar, his voice was familiar and now that she knew his name she remembered who he was. 

Her time in the U.A.O had made her forget many things about her previous life as she wanted to focus on her work instead of the past, but now that she had seen him again, she couldn't forget who he was. Alice was on the verge of a mental breakdown and she heard footsteps stop behind her. She didn't turn around until someone spoke up behind her. 

"Please tell me my mind isn't making shit up." Alice turned around to see the saddened face of her old time friend, William Gaurnere of West Philadelphia. Alice had a hard time looking him in the eye as she swallowed the lump in her throat so she could talk. In fact, she had a hard time even putting words together. The last time they really had a conversation was when they were 14 and Bill had found her standing outside a liquor store waiting for her brother and his friends. The thought of the time in between then and now scared her and made her worry if he was even going to trust her after all that time. 

"William, I'm-......I didn't mean for any of this to happen...I'm so sorry." She choked out as he stepped closer. She couldn't exactly find words to say that mean what she wanted them to mean. She watched as he didn't say anything before wrapping his arms around the small girl as she soon did the same. Alice thought he was going to lose his cool, but that wasn't the case. Although, both of them had a hard time believing that they were really being reunited. By now, Alice couldn't hold her tears back any longer as she buried her face in the shoulder of her old time friend. 

"I thought I was never going to see you again. Even if I did, I didn't want it to be like this. Under these circumstances. I thought I lost you when you left." he mumbled into her shoulder, feeling the same amount of relief and saddened joy that Alice had been feeling, maybe even a bit more. 

"I wrote to you. Before I officially joined the organization." she said, tears falling from her eyes as they parted. "I tried to explain what happened, I hoped you would understand. It was the best I could do in such little time."

"I know. I still have it." he told her excitedly as he opened his jacket and pulled out two envelopes. He looked at both of them and the excitement seemed to leave a bit as he gently tucked one away before holding the other out to her. "I kept it with me all the time, ever since I got it." he said with a sad, half smile. Alice took it, noticing how the delivery address was in her writing, before handing it back. She expected it to reach him when she sent it, but she didn't expect him to keep it with him 24/7. "I didn't quite understand what you meant when you said you wouldn't have a proper address. I would've written back as soon as I stopped crying." The infamous Bill Guarnere was known for not showing too much emotion besides seriousness, anger and playfulness. 

"It was a rough time when I sent it. I prayed it got to you in time so you would know exactly what happened." She told him, wiping her eyes before looking at him with pure sorrow. "I'm so sorry for shutting you out. I know you probably don't trust me now and I don't blame you, but please, William, just trust me when I say I regret how I treated you all those years ago. After everything you did for me...you didn't deserve any of it!" she told him in a rambling manner. He looked at her with a hurt expression as he tucked the letter back into his jacket. "I let you down, Will. I really did." she mumbled, mainly to herself. 

"You broke my heart, Alice. I know it was out of your control, but it still hurt. It almost seemed like you didn't even try." he admitted as Alice felt her heart tear in half. She tried, she really did, but her efforts were futile against the likes of her father. Both of them understood the circumstances of her father losing his wife, leaving him in charge of two kids by himself. 

"I know, I know, I'm so sorry, William. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I wanted, more than anything in the world, to tell you before we left and to apologize and say a proper good bye before we moved. I tried so hard to tell you before I left, but my father....he just..." she trailed off. 

"I think the phrase _'turned into an enormous douche bag'_ is what you're looking for." he told her, his expression changing to angry. "He threatened me, you know. I showed up at your house one day and he threatened me, that if he ever saw me on his property ever again he was going to kill me. Told me to stay away from you, threw me off the porch steps. I think about it every now and then and every time it pisses me off how he treated you and I." He told her as she wiped her eyes again, calming down the more the two spoke, even if the mood around then was turning dark. The thought of her father hurting her best friend like that made her blood boil. "All I wanted was my friend back and he took that away from both of us." he finished, turning his gaze from her in a half-assed attempt to hide his expression. The last thing he wanted, after finally seeing his best friend after so long, was for it to be an angry reunion. It hurt Alice more than she would have liked to know her own father treated her only friend so horribly. But there was nothing she could do besides try and shift the mood and the subject to something brighter. 

"Well... now we don't have to worry about him any more! He's off in Germany, training Nazi soldiers like my brother. We don't have to listen to what he says." She told him with a kind tone, hoping he wouldn't be so angry after. Alice watched as the look in his eyes changed and softened, which in turn, softened her own expression. She finally had her friend back, but knew very well it would never go back to how things were before she left Philadelphia. 

"If there's one good thing this stupid war has done it's bring my best friend back to me." he said with a smile, to which Alice returned. Bill had never thought he would see his best friend again, especially not in a war, but he couldn't deny that he was glad she was going to be fighting alongside him until the wars end or the war consumed them both. 

"And, I guess I'm in your squad, too. Less to worry about." she said with a cheeky grin. Bill saw the innocent young girl he knew before in her eyes, even though it was hard to ignore how much she had changed since he last saw her boarding the ship to take her away from him. 

"Oh, there's still lots to worry about." he said, throwing an arm over her shoulder as they left the shady corner together. "Like making sure you don't get yourself killed." he added, his mood changed once more into a happy one. Alice knew she couldn't tell him what she had been doing the last five years or so in case he might think she'd gone insane. Also, Alice had thought she would have more trouble trying to earn his trust back, but it seemed all he wanted was his friend by his side, just like her. 

"Yeah, well I'm pretty sure you were the one who liked to climb high fences to jump off of for fun when we were kids, so maybe I'll have to make sure _you_ don't get yourself killed. " she told him, poking at his ribs. The two were inseparable before her mother died, and it seemed the two would be inseparable once more. 

"Yeah, okay, little lady. What ever you say." The two friends were reunited and the only thing that could ever possibly separate them again was the war, but they weren't too worried about it at the moment.

**~End of Chapter 4~**


	5. Making New Friends

**D-day + 6  
Carentan**

**-**

Bill had walked Alice back to CP so she could meet with Lieutenant Winters, who had found some extra gear for her to use like a rain coat, extra ammo and a better bag than the one she had, one that didn't give her neck problems. With her original rifle, her new bag of gear on her person and a United States Army helmet on her head, Alice left the CP building, followed by Winters. Alice had found Bill leaning up against the wall lighting a smoke when she left the doorway. 

"You know that'll kill ya', right?" she asked jokingly. Her dark hair friend, looked up at her and grinned. 

"Before the war? Highly doubt it." he sassed, standing up straight and holding the pack of smokes out to his friend. Alice wasn't much of a chain smoker like many of the men in the company seemed to be, but she enjoyed a nicotine high every once in a while. 

"Thanks." she muttered, picking out a cigarette from the pack and placing it between her lips, searching her pockets for her lighter. 

"I never thought you be the kind of person to smoke." Bill admitted, holding his lighter out to his friend. 

"So this was a test?" she questioned, taking the lighter and lighting the smoke before tossing it back to him, catching him by surprise. 

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. I guess we'll never know." He answered with a shit-eating grin on his face before the two started walking over to the group of men that were packing up by the fountain. 

"I don't think these guys like me too much." Alice stated as a couple of them walked by, scoffing at her presence. 

"Well, the ones on my squad ain't got no choice but to like ya'. They got no choice but to take orders from me." Bill told her in a playful manner, causing the young girl to chuckle and shake her head, her half finished smoke now in between her fingers.

"Jesus, you got cocky." she stated, bring her smoke back up to her mouth. 

"Yeah, so what? You got a problem with that?" he questioned as Corporal Joe Toye approached the two.

"Not at all." She mumbled as they stopped in front of the confused looking man. 

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say you two know each other." Joe Toye stated, pointing to the both of them. 

"How did you know?" Alice whispered in a sarcastic tone, tossing her cigarette butt on the ground and stepping on it with her boot, driving it into the ground. The Corporal was taken back a bit, but soon nodded in an approving manner. 

"Alice and I were best buds growing up. Until her dad became even more of an asshole and moved his family back to Germany. Alice, this is Joe. He's been my buddy since basic." Bill introduced them. 

"So my replacement?" she questioned jokingly, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you." 

"You as well." he said, before turning back to Bill. "I don't think your squad's likin' the new addition too much." he informed him, motioning to the group of men behind them. 

"Eh, they'll come around eventually." he replied, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder. "Once they see you in combat I'm sure they'll start trusting you more." he added as the trio started walking towards the squad. Eventually, Bill moved up ahead as Alice and Joe fell back and started talking. 

"So, you a Bill been friends since you were kids. What happened?" he asked, obviously sensing there was a bit of awkward tension still between them. 

"My mother died of pneumonia. My father got controlling. I got pulled out of school to take care of her while he went to work. Then after she passed, he practically shut down my social life. Said I could only leave the house if I was with him or my older brother. Wouldn't let Will in the house at all so I couldn't really tell him what had gone down and then when the time came for my father to return to Germany, he took us with him." She explained, trying to not to give too much boring detail. 

"Shit. Sounds rough." he commented, lighting up a smoke. 

"Yeah, it was. I ran from home with I was 16. Found the organization and they threw me into a program. From then I've been moving through France, tracking, interrogating and killing stray Nazi officers here and there until I found Lieutenant Winters on D-day." She continued as they stopped a few feet from the group. 

"I'm surprised he didn't shoot you." Joe admitted with a chuckle. 

"How could he, his gun was in a tree." she said, laughing a bit. It went quiet between the two before the young Corporal spoke up again. 

"I'm glad you joined our company. We could use someone who knows their way around France a bit better." He said, shaking her hand again. 

"Thanks. I guess it does help a bit." She said as Bill came back from talking with the squad. The three stood in a triangle as Lieutenant Harry Welsh approached, eager to meet the new recruit. 

"So this is the spy girl Winters was talking about." he said as Alice and Joe stepped back a bit, creating a square formation with the added person in the group. "Lieutenant Harry Welsh." he greeted, holding out his hand. 

"Alice, no rank." She stated, shaking his hand before letting go. 

"I'm not sure about the rest of the group, but I'm excited to see how you fair in combat. Winters said you'd been traveling alone for a while before D-day." He told her as Bill and Joe stood by, listening to the conversation. 

"Well, after the organization got discovered by Nazis I guess I really didn't have a choice but to travel alone." she said in a playful manner, earning a few chuckles from the three men standing beside her. 

"I think she'll fit right in." Lieutenant Welsh stated before taking a step back. "Now if you'd excuse me, I have a company to assemble." he gave a half-assed salute before walking over to the majority of the Company. 

"Easy Company! On your feet! We're moving out! First Platoon, weapons on me!" he shouted as the men groaned, slowly picking themselves off the ground and collecting their things. Alice stood by as Bill and Joe picking up their bags and rifles as the company started to form tactical columns. 

"Stay close to me unless one of the Lieutenants sends you elsewhere. We're with 2nd platoon." Bill told her, bumping into her shoulder as they fell in with the company. 

"Roger that, boss." she mumbled, adjusting her rifle as to hold it in front of her. She earned so many questioning and angry glances from the men she was sure they were watching her instead of the road in front of them. Alice ignored them though; she knew that she was probably closer to a replacement than anything and these men had been together since basic training started. That and women in the war was unheard of besides secretaries, nurses, cooks, switch board operators and the occasional eye-candy for the men to boost morale if times got tough. Alice wasn't bothered by the men, in fact, she was feeling rather excited to be around men that weren't her father or her brother. She knew Bill would stand up for her if she needed or couldn't do it alone. And she knew she could easily get herself out of any situation if she needed; with or without violent force. 

As the company, plus their new recruit, left the town of Carentan, pulling everyone out of their comforting spots either under the bright sun or in the shade of a still intact building, clouds began to move in, only partially blocking some of the sun light. Alice walked close to Bill the whole time and if she fell behind, she managed to stay close to her new acquaintance, Joe Toye. He seemed to be the only one who didn't have as much of a problem with her being there, besides Bill. he probably trusted her more than the others, but Alice was determined to prove them all wrong. But as the company moved out of town and into a more or so open field, Alice began to question some of her new teammates. 

"Luz...how far we goin'?" one of the shorter men, Frank Perconte, asked his radioman friend, George Luz, who walked beside me. 

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Frank. I don't know. Until they tell us to stop." he said in an annoyed tone, looking over at his friend, before turning his gaze to meet what was in front of him. 

"High ground." Another chimed in. This one Alice hadn't known yet. "There's high ground up ahead." He finished, only sparking Frank's seemingly irritated mood. 

"Okay, genius. Answer me this, then. " Frank started, earning a chuckle from George while the other man stayed expressionless. "Why is Easy Company, the only Company who's either at the front of an advance or, like now, exposed as the far edge of the line." Frank complained. 

"To keep you on your toes." the man answered with the same annoyed tone George had before. Alice had drowned out what else was left to say between the three men as she focused on what was up ahead. They had been walking for some time now, light rain had started to fall but no one seemed to care about it. They all probably knew, like Alice did, that it wasn't heavy enough the keep falling and would stop sooner than later. 

Frank had continued complaining about being the fifth of nine companies in the regime before the man pointed up front, not expecting to have bullets shot back at him. Alice grabbed Joe's arm and pulled him to the ground as the company hit the deck to dodge bullets. 

"Contact Right! Stay in the hedgerow!" Lieutenant Welsh yelled over the sound of repeated gunfire, probably from a high artillery gun. The men, and woman, of the company started to crawl forward, towards the hedgerow like commanded by their Lieutenant. Alice had lost both Bill and Joe in the confusion and decided to go with her gut until she had time to find them again. 

She crawled up through the grass next to Lieutenant Welsh, her rifle ready to fire and she tried to locate where the guns were. Once she spotted the general area where a gun may be, she opened fire with short bursts to preserve ammunition. She watched in the corner of her eye as the men started to take positions along the up-spurt of ground before some hedges and trees. Alice kept firing before realizing she was hitting absolutely nothing. Enough men were hunkered down around her that she was able to pull back a bit and crawl down the hedge line until she reached a tree. Some of the men tried to pull her back down to the ground by her legs when they noticed her try to climb the tree, but everything a hand grabbed her foot, she kicked it away and climbed until she had good enough cover and better sight of the enemy across from her. 

Farther on down the line, Bill and a few men from his company took cover on the same hedgerow and opened fire on the field in front of them. Bill had stopped firing and ducked down to reload when he saw Joe take cover a few feet away. 

"Where the hell did Alice go?!" he yelled to his friend, who was ducked down like he was.

"She's in a tree somewhere!" Joe yelled back as chunks of dirt flew over his head with every bullet that made contact with the ground. Confused, Bill moved closer to make sure his mind wasn't making stuff up. 

"What?!" he questioned. 

"She's in a tree somewhere! Using it as a snipers post or something!" Joe explained before peering up and opening fire into the field before Bill followed suit. Alice was a fearless fighter it seemed like, but taking cover in a tree was something else. And using it for a snipers post was something entirely different.

-

As nightfall came, so did the rain. Except this time, it was a distant storm. Lightning crackled off in the distance and the occasional thunder blast often startled the men of the company if it was loud enough to be mistaken for a martyr blast or a grenade that was thrown. Alice had stayed in the tree, only coming down to talk to Winters.

"We dig foxholes for a reason, Alice. You could use one, you know." he told her as they ducked down at the base of the tree. 

"Better sight up there. I know I'm not going to sleep tonight." she joked, fixing the strap of her rifle to go over her neck. 

"Let me know if you see anything. I'll try to stay close to the tree. " Winters said before crouch-walking away before Alice climbed back up into her post. She kept her rifle up and her sights on one of the guns she spotted. The stupid Krauts had lit a lighter for a second too long and Alice managed to keep an eye on them, even when Winters came back. 

"See anything, Eagle Eyes?" he asked jokingly. 

"I got sights on a gun. Could probably hit a couple Krauts if you'd allow me to, sir." she told him, not taking her eyes off the sights of the gun that focused on the Kraut gun across from her. 

"If you have the shot, let me tell the men not to shoot and you can take the shot. Stand by." He told her. Alice knew where he was coming from. If she could take off a few Germans without alerting the rest of the whole Company's position, she would. She waited for what seemed like 20 minutes, Winters came back. 

"I've sent the message down the line. Let off a couple shots and then back off. The rest of the company is taking cover." he said before ducking behind the tree. Alice kept her eyes on the gun. A flash of lightning behind their position had illuminated the metal of the gun and their helmets. Alice remembered how slightly she would need to move her gun to hit the two Krauts manning the gun. She drew in a breathe and held it as she pulled the trigger twice before pausing and pulling the trigger twice more. Hearing pained screams brought Alice a sense of relief as she watched the area some more. Silhouettes moved around as one of the guns fired shots towards one of the trees down the line to her right. She could still see silhouettes and another strike of lightning gained her an advantage to see there were new men posted on the gun and she aimed, drew in a breathe, held it and pulled the trigger twice more, pausing and pulling the trigger twice more again. Silhouettes stopped moving across the field and in the trees when the second round of bullets left her gun. 

"I hit a couple of them for sure." she said out loud, loud enough for Winters to hear her. 

"Good. Why don't you come down for the night. We might have more coming for us in the morning." he said before crawling away from the tree and down the line. Alice took one last look at the gun before pushing herself up on the branch and jumping down from the tree. She ducked down below the hedgerow and crouched along the line, asking here Bill might be. The only real answer she got was from Warren Muck, one of the so-called comedians of the company. 

"I think he's close to the edge of the line down there." he told her, pointing down the line in the direction she was already going, which would be to the right of the tree if you were facing the Kraut hedgerows. 

"Thanks." she mumbled a response before standing up a bit and walking away. She looked into foxholes and along the hedgerow until she found Bill ducked in a half-finished foxhole. 

"Where the hell did you go?" was the first thing he asked, moving over so she could sit next to him. 

"Front of the line. Took up a tree and managed to shot a couple Krauts because they didn't obey the light discipline order their commander probably had in place." she told him with a smile as she set her rifle next to her. 

"That was you settin' those shots off?" he asked, shoving his hands farther into his pockets, even though the material didn't go any further. 

"Yup." Alice answered, taking her canteen off her belt. "Lightning helped a bit. They have their guns too far forward it's easy to spot when the light gleams off the metal." she told him before taking a drink from her canteen. 

"I guess that would help." he mumbled before looking off in the distance. There was no doubt both of them had a lot on their mind. They hadn't had much time to catch up, formally, since Carentan and Alice was completely unaware of what happened before Carentan. Bill shuffled his hands through his jacket, pulling out the second letter he dreaded every day before handing it to Alice. 

"What's this?" she questioned, taking the letter and seeing, hardly, that it was address to Johnny Martin. 

"Just...read it." he said bluntly. He knew he couldn't say it out loud without his voice cracking and that would worry Alice more than anything before she even knew what happened. Alice pulled the letter out of the envelope and squinted her eyes to try and read the letter from Johnny's wife. He must have let Bill keep it for some reason, and that reason broke Alice's heart once more that day. 

"Jesus, Bill...I-I'm so sorry." she whispered, holding a hand to her mouth in shock. She had known both Bill and his older brother Henry since they were kids. In fact, the three of them often went to the movies together on weekends if their moms allowed. Henry was as good of friend as Bill was. Like usual, Alice had missed too much and now the happy feeling of being reunited with Bill had suddenly turned to a vile one after learning Henry had died in Monte Cassino, Italy. 

"He enlisted before me. Set a good example, so when I had the chance I enlisted too." Bill told her as she handed the letter and the envelope back to him before it was hidden away in his jacket. "My ma's probably pacing a hole in the floor right now. One of her boys is dead. She hasn't heard anything from me since I left home for Toccoa." he told her. 

"Jesus...how does life get this bad?" Alice asked, mainly herself, before looking over at Bill, who was looking straight ahead. Without a second thought, she moved closer to her friend before wrapping an arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer to her as he fell into her side. 

"I think about him. All the time." he admitted. "I think about how scared he must have been when it happened. I think about what might happen to me. I think about what'll happen to my ma if both of her sons end up dead because of this fucking war." he told her as she wrapped both arms around him in a tight embrace. "I don't want her to have to lose both her kids." he sniffled as Alice moved her arms from around him to his shoulders, pushing him up to face her. 

"You listen to me, and you listen good." She told him, looking him dead in the eye. "Nothing is going to happen to you. Not while I'm here. You'll go home to your mother when all of this is over." she told him sternly, moving a hand to his cheek and wiping a stray tear with her thumb. "I promise." she finished before planting a soft kiss his forehead before pulling him into another hug, except this one lasted a bit longer and this one, Bill had wrapped his arms around her torso until the two fell asleep to the sound of distant thunder rumbling.

-

Alice was woken up by the sound of painful cries, except these ones were close and weren't from a Kraut. Bill was still asleep as she saw Lieutenant Speirs from Dog Company walking towards the sound of the cries. Thinking he was going to investigate, Alice forgot about it and she tried to go back to sleep. She didn't know how long she was asleep for, but she knew Bill was still asleep. Her thoughts wandered from the cries to Henry. 

_KIA in Monte Cassino._

Those words struck her to the core with deep sorrow. If he had gone MIA, she probably would have been feeling nothing but fear and anxiety, but that wasn't the case. Henry was killed in action, not just missing. Of course, she was sure he was missed by everyone who knew him. Henry and Bill were alike: both of them were real tough guys, but were kind and gentle when you got to know them. Except both had extra fixings of one of the traits: Alice remembered Bill to be less of a tough guy than Henry was, but she loved them both just as much. But now Henry was gone and all she had left was Bill. 

-

By morning time, Alice had been moved back to the tree from the previous night as a scouting position, watching for any movement from the Krauts. She had rotating men on the ground below her that would relay any messages she had to Winters. Bill remained in his half-done foxhole, ready for the Krauts to open fire so he could shoot right back at them. 

Alice waited and waited until Winters ordered her to come down from the tree. Both of them knew it was only a matter of time before the Germans opened up with either martyrs or more guns. Winters seemed to be banking on guns, Alice was wishing for martyrs. Martyrs were usually manned in groups of three, more targets, picking them off in groups of threes which made easy pickings. The only thing Alice had to worry about was how Bill was going to act. She already heard some things about him and how he was nicknamed "Wild Bill", but she hadn't seen him do anything too reckless since she found the company and she was hoping she wouldn't have to. 

Alice sat ready in a foxhole near Winters while everybody was either checking ammo or sitting still, chatting among themselves. None of the men had acknowledged her so far and she was alright by that. None of them really amused her anyway and most of them had probably forgotten she was here until they spotted her, which only resulted in disapproving or angry glares ad so many scoffs Alice had lost count shortly after they left Carentan. 

"You look like your focused on something." Winters said, sitting down beside Alice who was watching the line. 

"Just thinking." she muttered a response, looking quickly at Winters before back at the line. 

"About what, soldier?" he asked, watching the line as well. 

"Me being here." she told him. "I know it'll take a while for the men to get used to me being here, but I have my worries." she added, turning to Winters and sitting back in the foxhole so she was out of sight.

"Oh yeah. and what might these worries be?" he inquired, shifting down so he was also out of sight from Krauts. 

"I've been observing. Watching. Some of your men, they like to at tough, you know? They see a girl, they want to impress. Typical stuff." she started, sitting with her back in the fresh dirt of the foxhole. 

"I think I understand where you're going with this." he said, sitting back in the opposite side of the foxhole, looking over the hedgerow and into the open field. "If you see any of that activity, you let me know. Our last commander, Captain Sobel, he used to punish the men in training for being cocky." he told her. 

"Where is Captain Sobel now?" she asked, curious of this mystery man. 

"Transferred. I think Colonel Sink finally figured out how bad he was in combat. Too jumpy. Almost as jumpy as replacements." Winters explained as Alice listened intently. 

"Sounds like it was a good decision to put you in charge and not him." she said, chuckling to herself. 

"They transferred him before we jumped. I think the men were thankful for that. If they hadn't, he would have been lost a long time ago and probably killed." Winters added as men shuffled around behind them. 

"And you still would have been appointed to be Easy Company's leader." she stated. Any different path Easy Company would have taken on the board would have always resulted in Winters being their leader. It was inevitable. Alice was about to say something along the lines of that statement before a high velocity whistling sounded through the air and a blast landed a few feet from where they were sitting. Both of them ducked, holding their helmets to their heads as the men started opening fire. Alice was quick to her feet, adjusting the helmet on her head and adjusting her rifle out in front of her, ready to shoot. Martyr blast after martyr blast touched down along their line as Alice ran down towards where the martyr teams were set up, sending the occasional bullet across the field and into the skull of a Kraut soldier. 

Many of the men looked at her like she was insane as martyr blasts seemed to land right behind her, where her previous footsteps were. Alice ducked through trees before finding the open area where the martyrs were. She wasn't given a set roll in the company so she took it upon herself to provide covering fire where covering fire may be needed. Alice stopped behind one of the martyr men, Malarkey, and waited until the last martyr blast from their group went off. 

"How you guys holding up?" she asked over the sound of battle going on around her. 

"We need more rounds!" he replied, showing the half empty box of martyr rounds at the base of their set up. 

"I'll see what I can scrounge up!" she told him before taking off back to the hedgerows. More confused looks were sent her way as she ran back down the line, searching for any martyr rounds she could scavenge before running back to the martyrs, delivering the goods. 

"It's not much, but it's something!" she yelled over the sound of more martyrs going off and the occasional rifle in the background from their line. 

"It'll do! Thanks!" Malarkey shouted before turning back to the set up. Alice fired a few shots towards the enemies before getting an idea. She ran around the invisible line separating Germans from Americans. The Germans seemed to have more trees on their side which is where Alice's idea sparked. She climbed the closest tree and took cover in the leaves, high above the ground. She continued to crawl out onto the branches and jump from tree to tree until she was close enough to toss down a couple grenades, killing groups of Krauts and destroying their guns and martyrs before having to hightail it away from their line as a few of them spotted her and aimed for her instead of the opposing line, giving Easy and Dog Company time to regroup and fire a couple more rounds of martyrs and rifles before Alice got back to the safety of a foxhole on her line. 

"What the hell were you doing?!" Alice looked to her side and saw Bill crouched down, his rifle over the dirt bank. 

"I don't know!" was the only thing she could answer. It wasn't a lie either. She really didn't know what she was thinking when she climbed those trees other than _'Kill Krauts. Leave.'_ and she did exactly that. Although, probably got grazed a couple times, but the constant shooting around her brought her attention to the battle. She lifted her rifle and began firing at the enemy side by side with Bill. That was until the Germans rolled in with armored vehicles and advanced tanks.

"Fucking hell! Where did they get those!?" Bill shouted, ceasing fire only to reload before continuing to fire. Alice stopped firing, reloaded and observed the scenario. She used her grenades in the trees previously, but Bill still had some on his jacket. Alice threw her rifle into the bottom of the foxhole before ripping the grenades off her friend before turning to leave, only to be pulled back. 

"What are you doing now?!" he asked. 

"Just wait here!" she told him before climbing out of the foxhole and running out into the field with Welsh and one other soldier, who Alice hadn't met or been introduced to yet. The two had a grenade launcher of sorts and were focused on the one tank while another was heading straight for Alice. She watched as it stopped and moved it's sights to aim at her, but she ran in a minor zig-zag line to avoid the blasts, but one landed just to her right and slightly behind her, but it was still enough to fling her forward and into the mud. Looking up, she saw that the tank had moved it's cannon to face her, causing her to push herself up off the ground and back towards the tank. She pulled the pins on one of the grenades and tossed it into the cannon of the tank before diving under it, sliding through the mud, but stopping at the back of the tank as the grenade went off, damaging the front and rendering it useless. Alice could hear close to nothing besides the tank engine above her as she tried to crawl through the mud, but the tank seemed to continuously roll back. There was no way out through the sides and if she moved back to the front of the tank, she was sure to get shot by one of the foul gunners on the side. 

Alice rolled onto her back and observed the muddy undercarriage of the tank. She tried to grab a hold of something that wasn't blistering hot, but nothing proved useful. She pulled her sleeves down to cover her hands and held onto something as the tank moved back wards and then stopped. There wasn't much for room under the tank and this was probably, by far, the worst idea she had in a while, but as the heat from the undercarriage started to wear through her sleeves and into her hands, she hand no choice but to pull herself under the tank until she was clear of the back and stood up, ready to run as an armored vehicle came up on her left flank. She started out running as the 50. cal on the back started firing in her direction once more, missing every time. Alice pulled the pin on the last grenade as the shooting stopped and the vehicle pulled up beside her. She tossed the grenade into the vehicle and dove out of the way as it exploded, killing every passenger inside. 

By now, Alice realized she had done enough out in the field and began retreating back to her line where she spotted Bill giving covering fire in her direction. Alice sprinted like her life depended on it before jumping into the foxhole, but not before something swiped past the inside of her left thigh, just barely touched skin, but enough to hurt like a bitch. 

"What the hell kind of things run through your mind in a gunfight?!" Bill scolded her, only turning his head for a second before turning back to the war zone in front of him. Alice sat in the foxhole for a second to catch her breath. Her hands burned, she was caked in mud and blood was starting to cover the entire inside of her thigh and eventually leak onto the ground. She reached for a nearby bag that was sitting in a foxhole and searched around for the med kit. She knew it wasn't hers, but she needed a bandage. 

She found one in the med kit and threw the rest of it back into the bag. She took no care in ripping the hole in her pants any bigger, only place the middle of the bandage on the wound and wrap the wings around her leg before tying it off on the top of her thigh. She knelt forward, taking her spot to the right of Bill before grabbing her rifle and opening more fire until the Second Armored division showed up with tanks of their own. 

The company poured hell down onto the Germans as they started to retreat. Machine guns took most of the final kills as well as the tanks before the Germans disappeared over their hedgerows. Alice was in a state of bliss as the sense of relief filled her being, taking over the pain be was feeling. Cheers and hollers were heard down the line as the firing stopped and the last Kraut was shot down. Alice put down her rifle once more and leaned against the dirt ridge, resting her head on the ground with the biggest smile on her face. 

"Wasn't that something." Bill murmured as he lowered his rifle. Alice lifted her head as smoke cleared from the open field, showing countless dead German bodies and guns. Knowing this was the end of one of many battles, Alice let herself fall back into the foxhole as she tried to forget about the pain in her thigh. As men from Easy Company started moving around the field, checking bodies and artillery, Bill noticed the pain his friend was in. 

"You shot?" he asked, kneeling down in front of her. 

"Just a graze." she told him, pushing herself up into a straight seated position. "Still hurts like a bitch, though." she said with a pained grin. 

"Let me see." he said, reaching for her leg. Alice tried her best to lift it off the ground, but all the same, she couldn't. Bill sat down in front of her, using his leg to prop up hers as he untied the bandage and eventually peeling the whole thing off. There was no use trying to reuse the bandage, even if it was her own blood, because it was so soaked it wouldn't do anything. Without hesitation, Bill took hold of both sides of the hole in her trousers and pulled, giving him better view of the wound. 

"Yup, just a graze." he said, moving her leg around to see it. "I'm sure Doc will get you patched up and you'll be good to go." he told her as a few of the men passed them both, paying no attention to the two. 

"I think I can walk a bit to find him." she told him, ready to stand up. Bill only nodded before gently resting her leg back onto the ground before standing up and grabbing a fistful of her jacket and hauled her to her feet. Alice stumbled as Bill wrapped an arm around her waist for balance. He managed to grab both the rifles in his free hand before leading his minor wounded friend out of the foxhole, but not without a few pained whimpers on Alice's part. The two hobbled down the line to find the medic, Eugene Roe, tending to another wounded man, one of the machine gunners. 

"Hey, Doc. Got another patient for ya'." Bill greeted, helping Alice to sit on a tree that was knocked down by artillery. 

"I'll be there in a minute." he said, not taking his eyes off the man he was helping. Alice sat patiently as her leg continued to bleed, Bill standing beside her, fidgeting nervously. 

"Bill, you need to relax. It's not that bad." she told him, moving some of her trouser material away from the wound.

"I am relaxed." he mumbled, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. 

"No, you're not. I can see you fidgeting." She said, looking up at her friend. He was considerably taller than him, the fact that she was sitting on a tree didn't help either. 

"How about you stop bleeding and I'll stop worrying about your sorry ass." he said, dropping the rifles at his feet and sitting down on the ground next to her.

"Oh, sure. Let me just tell my leg to stop bleeding. What a great idea, Bill." Alice said sarcastically, earning a few questioning glances from some of the men, including Winters. 

"Everything alright?" he asked as he approached the two. 

"Peachy-keen, Lieutenant." Alice smiled up at him as the trees above blocked some of the sun. 

"You shoulda' seen this lunatic." Bill scoffed, shaking his head. "Diving under tanks a shit like an absolute mad-man, I'll tell ya'." he added in a lower voice. 

"Says you." Alice scoffed right back as Doc Roe dismissed his previous patient to the trucks nearby before coming over to take a look at her leg. 

"Bullet graze, huh." he said, pulling out a small, white package from his med bag. He ripped it open with his teeth, almost in a hurry, before pouring the contents onto her wound. The bleeding stopped a little bit, the wound starting to scab, but minor movements made it worse. "Might need stitches." Doc mumbled, mostly to himself. 

"Nothing worse than I've had before." she said, almost reassuringly, but she knew if it was reassuring at all, it was meant for Bill. 

"I'll have to do it back in town. I don't have the supplies here with me. I'll bandage it up for you. Try not to walk on it too much." the half-Cajun medic told her, pulling another bandage out of his supply bag and re-bandaging her leg, similar to how she had it before. They were moving the wounded out of the area and back into Carentan and eventually to a General Hospital and that's where Winters intended to send Alice. She collected her bag and rifle before loading onto the truck to Carentan, where another medic stitched the graze together the best he could with limited supplies. She hadn't needed any morphine and she was practically asleep when her leg was stitched so when she awoke on the table with her leg elevated, the stitching was done and a new bandage was placed over her wound. Her helmet was nearby as she pushed herself off the table, stumbling at the pain in her leg. 

A nurse directed her to CP, she remembered where it was from last time she was in Carentan. Easy Company seemed scattered and Bill was no where to be seen as Alice entered the CP, greeted by smiles from the Lieutenants. 

"How's the leg?" Winters asked, setting down his cup of coffee. 

"Hurts a little bit, but I'll be good." she answered, looking down at the bandage that wrapped over her leg to hide the fact she had a hole in her pants. "We moving out soon?" she asked excitedly.

"Not exactly." Lieutenant Compton replied. 

"They want us to stick around, scope out the area. I got a few guys being sent to the General Hospital, I think we might end up in that area soon if you want to go find yourself some new clothes." Winters explained, pointing to the leg wound. 

"Whatever you say, Lieutenant." being ordered to a General Hospital wasn't what she was expecting after her first look at combat with a company, but she didn't say that she would obey every command Winters threw at her and she intended to stand by it. 

"Great. There's some men going there already. I'll tell the hospital you're to wait for us there. I got a good feeling we'll be there sooner or later." Winters added. 

"Yes, sir." Alice said, standing at attention. 

"What you did to take out that armor back in the field was undoubtedly stupid, but it gained us the upper hand. Colonel Sink is very pleased with your combat skills and I think you'll do better than we all thought." Lieutenant Nixon informed the young girl as a smile crept onto her lips. 

"It may have been the dumbest idea I've had in a while, but it was worth it, I'd say." Alice stated as Lieutenant Compton went for the door. 

"Buck here will make sure you get to the trucks okay. I look forward to having you back on the line, Alice." Winters told her. 

"Thank you, sir. I look forward to being back on the line." she said before turning to the door. Combat had been the only thing she'd known for the last few years and it seemed to repress any memories of back home. Against her will, it seemed. 

"That was a risky move you took, diving under the tank like that." Buck stated, picking a cigarette out of his pack before offering one to Alice, who accepted as she hobbled along towards the trucks. Buck lit both smokes before putting his lighter away as the trucks rumbled to start. The mention of the tank incident made Alice look down at her hands. They were indeed burnt, if only by a little bit, but still burnt. 

"Yeah, it was a tough one." She mumbled as she threw her bag into the truck, along with her rifle, before turning to the Lieutenant. 

"You did better than I'm sure most of the men thought you'd do. You got my respects." he said, holding out his hand. Without thinking Alice shook his hand before feeling a mind-numbing pain. 

"Thank you, sir." she said before Buck noticed how red her hands were. 

"That from the tank?" he questioned, moving their hands so hers rested open-side up in his. 

"Yeah, it was a little hot under there." she said with a chuckle. The sleeves of her jacket did nothing to protect her hands. 

"Make sure you get that checked out at the hospital. And take care of that leg." He told her, letting go of her hand. 

"I will, Lieutenant. " She said before he helped get into the back of the truck. Her height made it difficult considering the truck bed sat almost her entire height off the ground. 

"Take care, Alice. We'll see you when you get back." Buck said as the tailgate to the truck was closed. 

"Can you let Bill know where I'm going? I'm sure he'd panic if I didn't tell him." she asked the Lieutenant. 

"Of course." he said as the truck lunged forward. Alice waved goodbye as the truck pulled out of Carentan with a couple others in a convoy style. A Jeep lead the three trucks and a Jeep followed. Alice wasn't excited for the hospital, but she was glad she had access to one. If she was alone, she would still be hobbling through Carentan trying not to get spotted. But the thought of her seeing Bill again soon put another smile on her face. All she had to do was sit patiently and wait. 

**~End of Chapter 5~**


	6. Gone For So Long

**D-Day +25, plus some.**

**-**

Easy Company stayed on the line until they were pulled off and Blithe was sent to the same hospital Alice was in. The General Hospital was in England, something Alice didn't expect, but didn't mind. She was surprised when Blithe was rolled in and placed next to Popeye, an Easy Company Toccoa man who got shot in the behind before Alice joined to crew. She had been helping out at the hospital since her leg was feeling better, although she often felt like her trip to the hospital was useless since it seemed to be nothing more than a scratch. She could still walk on her leg for Christ's sake! But since she promised to take orders from Winters, she obliged and spent a couple weeks in the hospital, healing and working as a volunteer. Mainly paperwork until the company got there. 

Colonel Sink had stopped by and met her personally, even gave her a formal uniform to wear for when the company got back from the shipyard. Although Alice hadn't trained with or known the men of Easy Company for anything longer than a week, she was starting to feel a more positive result was to come from joining the American Paratroopers. Colonel Sink had decided to keep her from the ranks in case she were to be discovered by the enemy. Nothing to tie her to the Americans and nothing to tie her to the U.A.O.; Alice had agreed with the idea since she didn't want to bring any unnecessary harm to her new comrades, or to Bill. Instead, she wore her formal uniform with pride without a name-tag sewn on or any ranking chevrons on the sleeves. She knew her place and was trained to only refuse higher authority if human rights or morals were being endangered. 

Alice was given word that the company had arrived and was given time off to settle in barracks. Winters was the first to find her sitting behind the front desk of the hospital, giving reports on patients to one of the head doctors and having him sign any necessary paperwork. 

"Looks like you're doing better, Alice." he greeted, taking the cap off his head as he walked in the front doors. 

"Very much so, Lieutenant." she greeted, walking out from behind the desk to shake his hand. "I wasn't about to sit around waiting for the company to arrive so I've been doing what I can. Preparing the barracks, helping out in the hospital." she informed him, moving the clipboard in her hand to be clutched in front of her. 

"I'm sure the men are grateful. Word was the barracks were left a mess." he said as a nurse came by and took the clipboard from Alice, therefore relieving her of her duties. "We tried to make the hospital stay less known, save you some of the humiliation. You were sent here to be situated with the American paratroopers before we returned to battle." he explained. The two walked outside, both donning formal OD's- khaki trousers, khaki button up shirts underneath dark brown jackets- complete with the beige, almost khaki colored caps. 

"The men are settled in the barracks. We have a day off before they want us to participate in training exercises. Regimen wants us to stay on our toes if we get sent out again sooner than we expect." he told her as they approached the area of Easy Company's barracks. "You're welcome to join us." he added as they stopped by a sign displaying that this was Easy Company's barrack section. 

"I haven't done anything for the last couple weeks so I think I will. Give me an opportunity to get to know some of the men. And my leg is practically all healed up." she told him as crowds of men started coming out of the barracks. 

"Great. Be dressed in your OD's and in the training field for 2200." he said before giving a salute and walking away. His sudden leave left Alice slightly stunned, but nonetheless she went on her day. Winters' appearance in the hospital meant she was no longer a volunteer now that the company was here. All she had to do now was find Bill. 

The limp in her step went away about a week ago, leaving her full mobility again. She was confident she would be able to keep up in the training exercise scheduled for tomorrow morning. Without knowing how long they would be here for, Alice figured she was better to join the Company now rather than when they got deployed again. A few men passed her on her way to find Bill, scoffing and whispering things between themselves like schoolgirls instead of paratroopers. Alice ignored them once more as they tried to strike up a conversation with her, only they chose the wrong time to do so. Alice spotted Bill walking out of one of the barracks in a group with Skip Muck, George Luz and Johnny Martin. His usual clique with Joe Toye was split up, and from what Alice could decipher, those two were almost inseparable in the field. 

"Hey, Gonorrhea, look who it is." Skip said, pushing Bill in the shoulder to turn him to face Alice who pushed her way past the men trying to talk to her to get to the group coming from the barracks. 

"Well, I'll be damned." George Luz mumbled, lighting up a smoke as the group migrated closer. 

"Came back for more, huh?" Bill asked the young girl as she stopped right in front of them. 

"I couldn't let you get redeployed without me." she said as the two shared a quick hug before Johnny Martin spoke up. 

"How's the leg treating you?" he asked. 

"Not worth being in the hospital, that's for sure." she answered as the group turned towards the mess facility. Lunch would be served soon before the company had the rest of the day off. 

"We heard you was volunteering until we got here. Couldn't find anything better to do?" Bill joked, wrapping an arm over her shoulder. 

"Well, I cleaned out the barracks for you, too. Couldn't let you guys stay in such a mess." she told them as Skip offered her a smoke, to which she gratefully accepted. She could feel the habit sneaking up on her, but she didn't really care. If there came a situation where she didn't have cigarettes at hand, she knew she could resist the craving. 

"Where are you staying then?" George asked as they approached the mess facility doors, only to be met with the closed sign. 

"With the nurses across the camp." she said before shuddering. "Can't stand it." she trailed off. The nurses were good women who volunteered to help wounded man after wounded man with close to no rest. They took turns switching between day shifts and night shifts which meant Alice had to take the occasional night shift herself. The only thing she couldn't stand was how messy they made the barracks. Hair pins and hair ties scattered over the bathrooms, undergarments flashed everywhere, constant sobbing because they were helping in the war and their boy-toys were back home sleeping around, waiting for them to return. 

"That bad, huh?" Bill questioned as they turned from the doors, searching for something else to occupy their time before lunch. 

"So bad." Alice mumbled, shaking her head. 

"Hey, you think you could hook me up with one of them?" George asked before being smacked upside the head. Alice couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but she went with it. 

"Trust me, George. You're better off waiting. You do not want to get involved with them. Some of them are real drama queens." she told him as the doors to the mess facility were unlocked and groups of men from the company starting filing inside, ready for food. 

"Why don't you move outta there and into our barracks. We got an extra cot in the corner." Martin offered, which struck Alice as curious, to say the least. He was the last person she thought would offer something like that to someone like her. 

"It'll be better than bunking with diva nurses." Bill added as they stood in line for food, trays in hand. 

"I'll grab my stuff after lunch." was all she said in response. From her first day with the company, there was only a few people who bothered trying to make friends with Alice: Bill, Joe and Lieutenant Compton, who Alice hadn't seen since she walked into the mess hall. It was suspicious how much Skip, Martin and George had been so much as talking to her, considering George was one of the two men who dragged her from the alley to the Company CP back in Carentan. Alice could remember the look on his face: a mix of confusion and untapped rage with a hint of relief. She also remembered the first time she spotted Johnny Martin in Carentan. He looked at her with the most disapproving scowl she had ever seen come from somebody who wasn't her father, arms crossed over his chest and all. Skip seemed to be the only one who didn't seem angry. He also couldn't deny that Alice reminded him of his love back home, Faye Tanner, as well as his sister Ruth. If anything, Skip and Alice would get along rather well as time goes by. 

"So they feed us shit at camp, but once we get to England they feed us proper lookin' food?" Alice heard someone complain from farther up the food line. She craned her neck to see the 'scrawny little bastard' Liebgott and a few of his pals up ahead. When Alice got her plate, she was surprised that it wasn't some sort of packaged army ration that had been added to water, cooked and placed on a plate. There was potatoes, a slice of bread and proper looking meatloaf with brown gravy. Any meatloaf and gravy she got while training was grey and less than appetizing. 

"Holy shit, real gravy. Gono, can you believe this?" Skip asked Bill. Alice was confused at the new name that seemed to be replacing the original Bill Guarnere. Alice spent her childhood calling him Will, but after their reunion in Carentan she learned that everyone called him Bill instead, so to fit in she followed suit. 

"Hey, Bill. Whats with the name change all of a sudden?" she asked him as they sat down at one of the tables. 

"Ah, the boys are making fun of my last name is all." he answered, sitting down to her right at the end of the bench. 

"Guarnere. Gonorrhea. Gono for short." George explained in between each bite he took of his food. Alice could only chuckle a bit before chowing down on her own food. She had been eating pretty much the same cooking since she got here so there wasn't much to complain about, but the men around her sure did find it better than what they had in basic. 

"I heard some of the guys complaining about the food they served you in basic. Was it half as bad as the shit I got fed?" she asked again, earning looks of dread as if they thought they were going to get sent back. 

"What was your camp like?" Bill asked in retort. 

"Dry ass potatoes, gravy on the meatloaf looks like bird shit on a shingle." she told them as a few of them nodded. 

"Yeah, it's about the same in Toccoa." George mumbled, shoving his empty plate off to the side. By now, almost everyone was done eating and one of the men tried to get everyone's attention in the front of the mess hall. He was on one crutch with three purple heart medallions on his shirt. Many of the guys around Alice were trying to shush the ones who just didn't want to be quiet. 

"The night of the Bayonet." the man started and Alice recognized the beginning of his story as the night she woke up to hear pained cries somewhere in the dark. "The night was filled with dark and cold...when Sergeant Talbert, so story's told, pulled on his poncho and headed out, to check the lines dressed like a Kraut." he continued, laughs and cheers filled the hall as he paused. Alice noticed one young feller hide his face in his hands in embarrassment. "Upon a trooper, our hero came fast asleep he called his name. 'Smith, oh, Smith. Get up. It's time, to take your turn out on the line,'." Alice couldn't hear one part over the laughs from the men around her. "...all red and bleary, grabbed his rifle he did not teary, hearing Floyd, but seeing Gerry." He continued and the men laughed some more. He continued his story, explaining the the young man named Smith had skewered Talbert with his bayonet that night and those were the noises Alice had heard. Alice laughed with some of the men as she felt Bill lean into her shoulder. She looked over to see he had turned around and stopped one of the replacements, asking him where he was from. 

"I could tell." he said to the young boy before letting his arm fall. "17th street." he stated as the young replacements expression changed from slightly offended to joyful as he shook Bill's hand. 

"Front Street." he said as Bill nodded his head, motioning for him to sit across the table form him. Alice kept a straight face, examining the replacement, who's name she learned was Babe Heffron. She didn't meet a lot of people back home and after the years of being away, she had forgotten most of the faces she did meet. 

"You ever meet Alice?" Bill asked Heffron, pointing a thumb in her direction. Babe took a look at Alice, probably wondering why a woman was in a company with a bunch of men. 

"You were that German kid from school, weren't you?" he asked. Alice was slightly angered that he referred to her as _'The German Kid'_ , but she was also relieved he remembered her at all. 

"Yeah, I am." she smiled, shaking the young mans hand as Hoobler, who was sitting to the left of her, nudged her arm to offer her a smoke. 

"Yeah, what happened to you? You stopped showing up at school." he asked as Hoobler lit her smoke. "If you don't mind me asking." he added, hoping to not to pour salt on any wounds. Alice shook her head, signalling she didn't mind explaining. 

"Mom got sick, dad became an asshole and pulled me out of school. When she died he became _really_ over protective before moving us back to Germany." she explained in less detail. She noticed Bill was watching her more than Heffron, making sure she was okay with telling such a painful story. 

"I'm sorry to hear that." Heffron said before changing the subject. "So what brought you to the army?" he asked, specifically to both of his South Philly neighbors. 

"Brother signed up. Figured I should follow." Bill answered, before looking back at Alice. Considering Bill was the youngest of 10 children, she was surprised a couple more of his siblings didn't join as well. 

"I ran away from home. And in spite of my father joined the Allied Forces." she chuckled, proud of what she had done. She didn't regret any choices she made since arriving in Berlin. The only real thing tying her to Germany now was her slight accent. She always had it, since she was raised by German parents who both had thick accents when they spoke English, but living in France for a few years developed her accent into Franco-German accent, although it wasn't very noticeable. She noticed she was starting to develop a Philly accent as well after reuniting with Bill, something she had lost years ago. Bill chuckled at her mention of being in spite of her father. The three continued to talk about their home life back in South Philly, mostly the good parts, until Sergeant Lipton took the stage at the head of the mess hall. His message was less than pleasing. They were moving out again, they just didn't know exactly when. 

The once merry and joyful mood of the hall was gone an replaced with groans and curses as Lipton announced that the training exercise for 2200 was cancelled, but that they were heading out for France once more, not to be returning to England. Probably another jump. Alice hadn't jumped with these men before and she was only just starting to get o their good graces, although some still despised her existence. 

"You had jump training before?" Johnny Martin asked her from across the table. 

"Only a little bit. It wasn't the main point of my training I guess." she answered as she finished her smoke. She loved when she did jump training or any training relating to tanks. Her two main strengths were tanks and planes although she never got to work on them more in her training. 

"Chances are, if we have to jump again, it won't be as bad as Normandy." Bill told her, reassuringly. 

"How bad was Normandy?" she asked, curious of what her friend and his comrades have been through before she showed up. She knew it was bad for Lieutenant Winters, who's gear was stuck in a tree when she found him, but she was unsure of the rest of the company. 

"90% of the company was missing when we rendezvoused in a small farm town. We over took some guns with under 20 men compared to the Germans, who had almost doubled." Bill told me as men started to leave the mess hall, smokes hanging out of the corner of their mouths and by all the empty plates, their bellies full of food. 

"Only one casualty though, guy from a different company. That was also the day Popeye got shot in his rear-end." Muck added. Alice remembered seeing the company leave when she was watching them from the trees. They came back tired and covered in dirt, gun powder and possibly blood. She also remembered how little of numbers they had compared to now, even without the replacements. 

"Well then, let's hope our next jump isn't like Normandy, eh?" she said hopefully, earning just as hopeful smiles from the men around her. Alice didn't know it yet, but some of them men liked having her around, and not just to ogle at. Alice brought a new sense of morale to the rag-tag crew and even gave some of them something to remember their women back home by. No one knew it now, but soon, they would all get along more than they would think. 

**~End of Chapter 6~**


	7. Replacements & Booze

**-**

**September 13th, 1944  
Aldbourne, England**

**-**

A local pub had been filled to the brim that night with Easy Company men. Alice was wary of the intoxicated men around her, but it didn't stop her from joking around with Bill and his friends. She stood by and watched a dart game between Babe Heffron and Buck Compton. George Luz and Joe Toye stood by as spectators, picking sides as to who would win. Alice stood behind the crew next to Bill, who was seemingly downing drink after drink since they had arrived. Alice had her own mug of ale, but she sipped on it slowly unlike the men around her. She didn't trust getting completely drunk around the men she had yet to get to know more. 

"You're embarrassing the Lieutenant, here!" Bill exclaimed as Babe won yet another round of darts against Buck, Joe patting him on the back. "You better start winning money soon, I think your friends are starting to miss ya." Bill stated, motioning to the table behind them where three other replacements sat, talking quietly among each other in almost perfect posture. Alice didn't take notice of the replacements much, she was more concerned about the Toccoa men. Even though they were separated by an ocean, Alice had gone through much of the hardship training Easy Company had. 

"Yeah, they do look kinda sad, don't they." Babe said in response, sipping from the mug Bill had handed him. 

"They're just serious fighting men, that's all." Bull stated, joining in on the conversation. The three replacements in question were part of Bull's squad. Privates James Miller, Les Hashey and Tony Garcia had all arrived in England with Babe and yet they were often left behind. Babe had only made close friends with Bill and Alice because of their shared hometown. Babe didn't question anything about Alice leaving and trusted Bill when he said she was trustworthy. 

"I think I'll go introduce myself." Bill said, watching the three replacements at the table carefully, taking note of their actions as if to judge them on what they did or said. 

"Careful what you say, now. It don't take much to set my guys off." Bull warned, jokingly but with a seemingly straight face. Babe had stepped away and Johnny Martin took his place in the conversation. 

"Yeah, you got some wild-eye killers, right there Bull." He taunted as the three overlooked the table of replacements. Alice shook her head and grinned to herself as she took a seat at a different table next to David Webster, the Harvard Boy. Webster, like most of the Easy Company men, didn't fully trust Alice. Even after what she did in Carentan with the tanks and all, he still remained skeptical about her work in the field. Aside from this, he didn't particularly mind having someone new to talk to, and Alice was often intrigued about his stories or random spurs of knowledge. While other men made fun of him and his Harvard information, Alice actually liked hearing what he had to say and learning new things. 

"Hey, Fellas." Bill greeted, sitting down in the empty seat at the table that once belonged to Babe. "What do you hear? What do you say?" 

"Actually, that's Babe's seat, uh, Private Heffron." Les Hashey interfered at the sudden appearance of the NCO. Bill was less than pleased at the remark. 

"Is that right?" He questioned, leaning back in the chair. "I don't care if it's fucking Eisenhower's." He stated, establishing as sense of dominance above these new guys. The replacements in front of him were silent after that. "Who are you?" Bill asked, turning to face the man in his left. 

"Private Miller, James Miller." He answered, watching what he said in front of his superior officer. "I'm in Sergeant Randleman's squad." He added as if Bill didn't already know that. 

"Us too, Les Hashey." 

"Tony-"

"Garcia, I know who you are." Bill interrupted, leaning forward to grab an unclaimed glass off the table. "Old Gonorrhea, don't miss nothin'." He introduced rather timidly, downing the rest of the drink. The table fell silent as the bet between Babe and Buck went down, resulting in Babe and Joe owing George and Buck a pack of smokes from both of them. Alice chuckled to herself, sipping the drink in her hand before Bill spoke up again, probably to tell one of his tales of wisdom. 

"Babe tell you boys about Doris yet?" He asked, looking between the three men for an answer as they all shook their heads. "No? Well, now I'm gonna educate you." He stated, clearing his throat. "We're getting ready to get on a plane to jump into that Frog town we never jumped into." He started. Bull, Johnny and Babe listened from behind him as Babe's cheeks began to flush. "All of a sudden, Heffron stops dead in his tracks. Bing and a Bang and Boom, everybody's banging into each other." He continued, smacking his hands together for added emphasis. Alice smiled slightly, listening to the story. She didn't remember ever preparing to jump with the company before so she ruled it out to be something that happened while she was situated at the hospital. 

"Heffron's just staring up at the nose of the plane, because," He paused. "On it, is painted this beautiful pin-up and written underneath is _'Darling Doris'_ , Doris, which just happens to be the name of the skirt, who just that day sent Babe one of them letters." He continued, stopping when he forgot the name of the letters. "You know the, the-" Bill turned to face the table where Webster and Alice were sitting quietly. "Hey, Web. What do you call those letter the broad sent?" 

"A Dear John Letter." Webster replied, ignoring the story for the most part. 

"That's it, a Dear Babe letter." Bill joked. The replacements laughed quietly to the story, even the three standing behind Bill had chuckled at the story. "Anyway, lucky for Babe, Patton overruns our drop zone, mission cancelled. In other words, Babe don't have to risk getting inside ol' Doris again. Ha!" Bill finished the story with a cackle that took Alice by surprise. Her and the replacements continued to laugh quietly as Bill lit up a smoke. "Hey, Bull. Your squad listens up real good." Bill stated. 

"Yeah, they're being polite like whenever Bull opens his mouth." Johnny stated, poking fun at his farm-boy friend from Arkansas. 

"Johnny, what are you saying?" Bill questioned, turning around in his chair. "Bull's boys are just humorin' him?" 

"Yeah, like when ever he gives out some of his folksy wisdom from back down on the farm." Johnny continued as Bull chuckled silently, Babe lingering in the background. Alice turned her attention from the table to Webster, who was quietly reading a book in his lap. 

"As per usual, Webster's being a little book worm." Alice stated, turning to lean over the table. "What's new this week?" She asked as Webster slowly peeled his attention away from the pages to look up at the curious girl. 

"It's, uh, it's called _Brave New World_. Written by Aldous Huxley." He answered before looking back down at the pages. 

"Isn't that the dystopian novel written by a drug addict in 1932?" Alice questioned, taking Webster by surprise. 

"You sure know your literary facts." He stated. "Yes, that would be the one. You read it yet?" He answered with a question, bookmarking the page he was on before closing the book and setting it on the table. 

"Not yet. I remember my brother was reading it before I left Germany. Sounded interesting from what I heard." She told him, now taking herself by surprise. She hadn't openly spoke about her brother or leaving Germany to anyone in the Company besides Bill. 

"I'll let you know when I'm done, I'll let you borrow it." Webster said, picking up his glass of beer. 

"I look forward to it." She smiled before noticing Cobb stumbling over to the table of replacements, eyeing up Private Miller. "Oh shit." She mumbled, earning Webster's attention once more. He followed her gaze to Cobb and muttered a curse himself. Cobb flicked Miller in the shoulder, causing him to turn around slowly and meet the gaze of the drunken bully. 

"Where'd you get that?" Cobb questioned the young Private, flicking the Presidential Unit Citation on Miller's jacket. Everyone had one, even Alice. It was for what the regiment did in Normandy and even though she wasn't apart of the Company then, she still sent the decoded radio messages to Winters which helped them in their Normandy mission, earning her the same unit citation.

"It's a Presidential Unit Citation. For what the Regiment did in Normandy." Miller answered, obviously scared of the Toccoa man interrogating him. 

"That's right. for what the Regiment did." Cobb paused, giving the new guy a glare that could kill. "You weren't there." He stated as Hoobler stepped in, pulling Cobb back by the arm a bit. 

"Ease up, Cobb. It's a Unit Citation." Nothing to get upset about, really. If it was a Bronze star or something, it'd be a different story, but it wasn't. It was a simple unit citation. Without any more words, Alice watched with great sympathy as Private Miller unclipped the citation from his jacket and set it on the table before getting up and walking away, right past Bull. Alice moved from her table to their table and picked up the left behind citation as Bull spoke up. 

"Shit, Cobb. You didn't fight in Normandy neither." He stated before turning away from the disgraceful man. It didn't take long for Cobb to tap Tony Garcia on the arm. 

"I got hit in the plane before I got a chance to jump." He said, giving some lame excuse. 

"Well then why do you still have one." Alice snarled, sending the man a glare. 

"You shut your damn mouth, broad. You're not suppose to be here anyway." He retorted, pointing a stern finger. Alice could only chuckle. 

"Oh, how sweet. Private Cobb has his head in the gutter. Why don't you join the Company when you're done being a prick." She said calmly before turning around, her intention to find Miller. 

"You think you can talk to me like that?" Cobb argued, the alcohol in his system obviously triggering his anger. 

"Hey! Back off, Cobb." Bill warned, stepping to Alice's side and totally ready to fight someone. 

"What? You're taking her side now?" He argued. "You know just as well as I do that women don't belong in the Army!" Cobb continued to argue, fueling Alice's entertainment. 

"Well, then what are you still doing here, Cobb?" She questioned, a sly grin plastered to her face as the men around her to witness the exchange gasped. Cobb was left speechless which resulted in him storming off, away from her and the table. When he was gone, Alice turned away once more and pushed past men to find Miller, his unit citation still in her hand. She found him off in a corner, a look of surprise stained to his face. 

"I believe this belongs to you." She greeted, holding out the Unit Citation. He looked at the young girl with both awe and curiosity. He hesitated at first, but eventually took his Unit Citation from her hand and clipped it back to his jacket. 

"T-thank you." He stuttered, not sure what to say to her after witnessing her attack on Cobb. 

"Ah, don't mention it." She replied, waving a hand in dismissal. "And don't worry about Cobb. His ego is hurt is all." She told him. 

"Obviously." Miller scoffed, clearly embarrassed by Cobb's remarks earlier. 

"I haven't been with this Company very long, but from what I've seen, there's never a good day with that guy. I try to stay away from him." She told him, moving to lean against the wall he was currently holding up. 

"How did you come to join Easy Company, if you don't mind me asking." He asked, mirroring her stance. 

"I found Lieutenant Winters on D-Day. We went separate ways after that, but I followed the Company, kept a distance." She began. "Hooked up with them once again in Carentan. After the battle with the German armored just outside the town Winters sent me to England after I was injured. I would have been fine to return sooner, but Colonel Sink showed up so I met with him and volunteer at the hospital until Easy came back." She concluded. Miller had listened intently, taking in every word that left her mouth. 

"Sounds more exciting than how I ended up here. Most of these men trained for two years. Us replacements trained for just under a year and now the Toccoa men think we're all a joke." He stated. Alice noticed his distress and understood how he felt. 

"You're not a joke, Private. You were sent here to do the same thing the rest of them were sent here to do." She told him before letting out a sigh. "Lord knows how much of an outcast I was when I first joined the Company." She scoffed, remembering the nasty looks she received when she joined the Company in Carentan. 

"Did you have former experience in the army before you joined the Company?" Miller asked, curious of the young soldiers past. 

"I trained for a few years. I was part of an Allied group before it was disbanded." She answered. "The Underground Allied Organization. The lone survivor." She muttered the last part. The organization shaped who she was and now that it was gone, along with all the friends she made within the organization, she didn't know what she would do after this whole conflict was over. She certainly couldn't live in France anymore. Germany wasn't even a last ditch resort. Italy was in shambles and England was a bit too preppy for her taste aside from Aldbourne and any military station in England. Switzerland was nice, but too conflicted being in the middle of a war zone. Hungary was sure to be abandoned if Germany ever left it and Holland was just too corrupt for her taste. 

"I heard about that organization. I heard they got most of the information to put D-Day into works. Who knew one of their own would actually help the Airborne pull it off." Miller stated in complete amazement. Before Alice could reply, Smokey Gordon had called the attention of the men in the bar and pulled Lipton to the front. The news he brought was less than appealing. 

_We're moving out._

**~End of Chapter 7~**


	8. Sobel

**-**

**The Next Day**

**-**

Alice had left the bar with Miller and his buddies instead of Bill, which surprised him a little bit. Usually, Alice would hang around Bill, but just quiet enough you didn't recognize her. He ruled it out to be that she was still nervous about joining the Company and what they would think about her. Now that she was hanging around the replacements, it seemed to him that she was trying to make them feel more welcomed to the Company, no matter how many cliques divided it. She understood how it felt to be new to the Company and even now, she was still new. Many of the men were still uneasy about her presence while others accepted she would be here and yet they refused to acknowledge her. 

Alice didn't mind hanging around the replacements. Most of the time they were more decent than the Toccoa men, especially Miller, Hashey and Garcia. Babe would stop by and talk for a bit, but for the most part, he hung around Bill. Those two were starting to become inseparable. However, there was still the group consisting of Bill, Joe Toye and Alice to fall back on. 

When it came time to debrief on the new mission, the cliques and groups weren't as cheerful and starry-eyed as they had been the night before, Alice included. She sat among the men, separate from Bill or the replacement friends she made. She was somewhere in between Joseph Liebgott and Frank Perconte. Liebgott didn't seem to notice her much and she was fine by that. She heard rumors that he could be a little hot-headed and she wanted nothing more than to stay far away from any personal conflict between her and the men, especially after what she had said to Cobb. Frank Perconte had spoken to her maybe once or twice in Carentan and a few times in the bar the night before. He seemed like a decent fellow, but since there was a new mission going down, Alice wasn't took concerned on evaluating who she wanted to befriend at the moment. 

She didn't mind working with the British Army, but apparently much of Easy Company had a problem with the Brits. When Lewis Nixon informed the Company that they would be under British Command, the entire room filled with displeased sighs and groans of despair. I guess the egos of the men didn't like being told what to do by the Army of another country. Alice was grateful the British were the ones supplying the armor and tanks. Made for less walking on Easy's behalf. 

The thing that bothered her the most about this mission, was the intelligence of the Krauts in Holland. The last time she had any contact with the enemy in Holland, they were young soldiers, able-bodies and ready to die upon command. Now, according to British intelligence, the Krauts in Holland were kids and old men. She hadn't been in Holland for about a year, but she knew the Germans wouldn't just leave their weakest fighters to protect some of their most valuable territory. 

After the debriefing, the Company was left to study maps and the plan, but while they were doing so, Alice brought her concerns to Nixon, who was an intelligence officer himself. 

"Lieutenant Nixon, sir." she greeted, earning his attention as he turned from his conversation with Lieutenant Harry Welsh. She gave a salute when he turned to face her, to which he returned. 

"Yes, what is it?" He asked, almost as if he was impatient. 

"Sir, I'm a little skeptical about the intelligence of the Kraut forces in Holland, sir. With no disrespect, I wish to tell you that I was in Holland long before D-Day and when I last was there the Krauts stationed there were young men. Able-bodied soldiers with nothing to fear. The organization had lost many great fighters during our time there, men and women, sir." She explained, standing at ease before him. "Sir, I'm sure you don't want to see these men get killed because British intelligence was wrong, and I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but I think we need to reconsider what we're going up against. Holland is very valuable to the Germans, they wouldn't want to lose it that easily, sir." She finished as Nixon and Welsh shared questioning looks. 

"I'll relay what you told me to Winters. If British intelligence is wrong about this, it could mean a lot of lives lost trying to liberate these towns." Nixon stated, finishing his statement with a sigh. "I'll see if I can get a word in to Colonel Sink. For now, keep quiet about what you told me and study the plan with the men. I'll let you know if intelligence changes any plans." He finished, giving a salute. Alice returned the salute before turning and walking away. She met up with Miller and the other replacements to finish studying the maps and mission plans before they were called out to gather by their respective squad muster points. Since the replacements Alice befriended were all in Randleman's squad, she had to part with them for a bit to rally with Bill and his squad. 

"Sorry to drag you away from your new buddies, but it's time to gear up." Bill greeted, tossing a bag to her. 

"You say that like you're not my buddy." She said, kneeling down to the ground and opening the bag. Inside was the chutes and necessary gear needed for the jump. 

"So they give us a bunch of shit to jump into Normandy with, but jumping into Holland we have the bare minimum. That shit just don't add up." Joe complained, throwing his chute back down onto the ground. Alice gave him a questioning glance to which he didn't notice. Bill just shook his head in a sense of disbelief. 

"Joe, are you gonna complain every time we have to gear up to jump?" Bill questioned, pulling on the straps of his chute, securing it to his torso. 

"I just might." Joe mumbled, fumbling with the straps that was supposed to be holding a bag in place over his shoulders. Alice didn't complain about the gear she had to strap on as she tightened the straps to her chute and her bag. She checked and than double checked to make sure she had all the necessary supplies and items needed strapped to her person in some way. When she was sure she had everything, she turned to say something to Bill, only to find him and the entire company staring at the Jeep and supplies trucks that rolled in and stopped right in the middle of the Company area. She stepped forward to get a good glance at the trucks and saw they were all watching one man as he rounded the trucks and began ordering the men that arrived with him to start unloading the trucks. 

"Hey, Bill. Who's that?" She asked, tapping him on the shoulder. 

"Our old commander. Captain Sobel." He hissed the mans name, pure hatred and rage flooding his voice. Alice had heard stories of Captain Sobel, but never thought she'd see him just before the Company was about to jump. She prayed he wasn't the Company's bad omen. 

"That bastard has a lot of nerve." Chuck Grant mumbled before turning away and focusing on his gear. Alice watched as the man made eye contact with her, sent a look of confusion, anger and hate towards her before noticing Malarkey. She let out a sigh of relief as he stepped towards Don and Skip walking away from the scene. She turned back to her station and checked over her gear to make sure everything was secure before turning to meet a new face. The new face seemed startled that she turned around almost as if it was his intention to approach her first. 

"I don't think we've met before." He greeted, holding out a hand. "Robert Wynn. But you can call me Popeye." 

"Alice." She greeted, shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you Popeye." 

"So how'd a pretty lady like you end up with men like this?" He asked, earning a few playful glares from his buddies as Bill approached. 

"Hey, Popeye. Good to see you made it back." He greeted, patting Popeye on the back. 

"Thanks, Bill." He said. "So where'd y'all find this gal?" He asked again since he didn't necessarily get an answer the first time when he asked Alice. 

"Well, you see, it was more like she found us." Bill started. 

"I found Winters on D-Day. Clearly my stealth skills are still intact because no one knew I was following you guys to Carentan." Alice explained in more detail. 

"I assume you have prior military experience if Winters let you join the Company." Popeye stated as Lipton walked over with some gear. 

"More than us apparently. I heard she has tank training." Lipton stated, earning a nod from Alice. The group seemed to separate as more of the men came by to see Popeye while he geared up. Alice stalked away, hoping to see her new replacement friends before the jump, only to be stopped by the so-called _bastard man._

"And who might you be?" Sobel asked, stopping right in front of her and going out of his way to step right in her path. 

"You must be Captain Sobel. I've heard much about you from the men." She greeted, giving a salute to which he did not return. 

"That's besides the point. Who the hell are you and what are you doing with my Company?" He growled, getting angrier than Alice would have liked. 

"Obviously you didn't do too good leading this Company if you're a supply officer, now." She retorted before she could stop herself. On the inside, she was panicking more than anything. On the outside, she kept a calm expression. 

"The young lady I've been hearing about has a mouth." He stated. "Now answer the damn question: what are you doing in my company?" He asked once more. 

"What's it to you? You don't lead them anymore. And from what I've heard, Easy Company is far better off with Winters leading them than you. You see, the men talk and I listen. Yes, I may have heard plenty about you, but not one bit of it has been good. And from how you approached me today, I can safely make the assumption that you, in a whole, are an egotistical, power-hungry maniac who would have gotten every man in this Company killed if he had remained their leader any further." Alice concluded her insult, adding coal to the fire that was boiling Sobel's rage. 

"You listen here. When I lead this Company back in Toccoa and Aldbourne, they were _the_ finest Company in this entire regiment. They had the highest performance rate in basic and they out-shined every other Company. Now as long as I still live and breath, I will not let a woman like you destroy their reputation. Do I make myself clear?" He threatened. 

"Yes, Easy Company may have had the highest score in basic camp and where ever you were stationed in England, but here in France and now into Holland, they do even better with Winters leading them. Little to no casualties, highest enemy body count perhaps. None of that, had to do with you. Because simply, you're just a supply officer, and that's all you'll ever be to them now." She spat back, not taking any of his bullshit today. They were heading into a jump, she din't need his negativity to weigh her down. 

"How dare you speak to a superior officer like that. Keep it up and you'll have a Court Martial order coming your way." Alice only laughed at Sobel's weak attempt to undermine her. 

"Well, I hate to burst your bubble there, Sobel, but you can't Court Martial a soldier that isn't in your regiment." She told him, earning a confused and angry look. "I may travel with Easy Company, I may take orders from Winters, but I am not part of the United States Army. Therefore, you can't Court Martial me. And if you try, I will end your entire fucking career, do I make myself clear?" She threatened back, ready to leave this man in the dust. When she received no answer, her stern expression turned into a small smile. "It was a pleasure to meet you Captain Sobel." She said before turning and walking away, earning surprised looks and quiet cheers from some of the near-by men who heard the little altercation. 

_Bill was right._ She thought to herself as Bill and his squad came back into view. _Sobel is an asshole._ Now that she had her chance at meeting the infamous Captain Sobel, she didn't want anything to do with him for the rest of her time here in Europe. And she prayed she didn't see him outside of the war, if both had somehow survived. 

**~End of Chapter 8~**


	9. Jump Time

**-**  
**Holland**  
_

Alice loaded into the plane with Bill and his squad. She had a nervous feeling every time she got ready to jump out of a plane, but this one was different than the previous feeling she had while working with the U.A.O., this one was worse. She tried ruling it out to be because she was jumping with a group instead of solo, but yet again, she didn't have this feeling when she went into battle with the Company for the first time. This new feeling scared Alice more than the upcoming jump, and that scared her even more. 

The plane jostled as it lifted off the ground and shook from time to time as it hit minor turbulence, but considering it was a low jump, Alice spent most of the flight trying to figure out what the hell this new nervous feeling was all about. 

She sat first in line on the plane, meaning she would be the first to jump when given the command. It was a daytime jump; easier to be seen by guns on the ground. Over the sound of the plane engine, she heard a few men talking about this plane ride and the plane ride they took in Normandy, where they lost many of their friends and the Company lost Lieutenant Meehan, she thought it was. She remained unsure due to her not being able to hear their conversation all too well. 

When it came time to jump, the hook up and equipment check went by smooth and Alice was first out of the plane. The fall through the air was smoother than the one she took that lead her to the small shack she was in on D-Day. She hit the ground softly as the rest of the men from her plane hit the ground around her. They unclipped their parachute packs and adjusted their equipment before running towards the rally point. Alice could tell from the expressions on their faces that they had actually hit their Drop-Zone for once and that there was no injuries. The rally point happened to be a ditch on the side of the road that lead to Eindhoven. Fighter Planes flew past them, rather low to the ground, and many of the men made snarky comments about 'losing Air Support'. 

Alice watched as the men filled the ditch, some crouched down so they could move down the line and while some stopped when they saw their buddies, others stopped when they reached an NCO. Lieutenant Peacock stopped in front of Bull Randleman and that was the last of the movement she saw before she and the rest of Second Platoon were ushered the follow Randleman and his squad. They moved out of the ditch and into the field behind them. 

Alice had crouched just like every other man in the field and hit the ground when Bill held up a fist and hit the ground as well. Alice risked a peak up ahead to see Bull running to the fence where Miller and Hashy were pointing their guns into town, specifically at one house. Except there was no sound of rounds going off to follow. Bull turned around to face the rest of the Company behind him before waving. The coast was clear. 

To Alice's surprise, Eindhoven wasn't filled with Germans harassing the poor civilians. Instead, it was one giant party. Orange flags and banners waved in the air, people had orange cloth wrapped around their arms or waists, some even wore orange clothing. The people were celebrating the Germans leaving, all while celebrating the arrival of the Americans and the British, who were sure to show up soon with the tanks. People danced around Alice; shaking her hand, giving her kisses on the cheeks and hugs. Some even offered food, but she was ushered by Lieutenant Peacock to keep moving. She managed to squeeze her way out of a crowd and found Lieutenant Nixon. 

"I thought you said Holland was occupied!" He shouted over all the noise. 

"I did too. Which leads me to think the Germans that were here moved on and are grouping their forces elsewhere!" She told him, leaning closer so he could hear. 

"Let's hope they all went back to Berlin!" He shouted before a man wearing a suit approached him. Alice took the time to move back into the crowd to try and find Bill. Her height did nothing to help her as she often jumped to see above the crowd. She continued to move through the crowd and was startled when the happy cheers turned into hateful chants. She tried to see through the barrier of people as two men dragged a woman past her. The woman cried out and tried reaching for Alice, but by the time she had realize what happened, the woman was thrown into the circle and stripped of the top of her dress. The barrier of people moved in, preventing Alice from seeing what they were doing next before a woman was thrown into the back of Alice. 

"Please! Help me!" The woman cried, gripping to Alice's jacket as she turned around to see two more men reaching for the woman. Alice moved instantly to pull the woman out of their reach. 

"Maak haar los! Ze is een crimineel!" _"Unhand her! She is a criminal!"_

"Ik wilde het niet! Ik werd gedwongen! _"I didn't want it! I was forced!"_

"Deze hoer sliep met de Duitsers! Ze moet gestraft worden!" _"This whore slept with the Germans! She must be punished!"_

"Ik werd gedwongen! Please! Ik wilde het niet!" _"I was forced! Please! I didn't want it!"_

Between the yelling back and forth, the men accusing her and the woman's desperate pleas, Alice spent more energy on keeping the woman out of reach of the men. 

"You have already hurt all these women, I will not let you hurt her!" Alice shouted at the men as some of the bystanders turned to watch what was happening behind them. 

"She is criminal!"

"Slut!" A crowd grew around the four and began chanting harsh names in both Dutch and English. The woman clutched to Alice for dear life as the two men continued to try and grab the woman who had slept with the Germans by force. Alice believed the woman, not the men. Alice noticed the woman couldn't be more than 18, and that she was clearly traumatized by everything that had happened. 

"Unhand her!" One of the men yelled, raising his gun and pointing it straight at Alice's head. Alice almost reached for her own rifle before a body moved in behind both men and held a pistol to the back of their heads. 

"Laat je wapens vallen. Je hebt genoeg gedaan." _"Drop your weapons. You've done enough."_

The men turned around to see another young woman, roughly the height as Alice, standing behind them and holding loaded pistols at them. The man holding the gun lowered it and backed off, while the other stood defiantly before her, blocking Alice's view of the woman. The crowd dispersed back to the original barrier around the women being shamed as bodies moved closer to Alice. Before realizing who they were, Alice put herself in between them and the woman. 

"What's going on?" Bill asked over the sound of people chanting and cheering. 

"I don't know!" Alice replied before noticing the second man leaving and the woman approaching them. "I don't believe it." Alice mumbled when she recognized who it was. 

"I never thought I'd see your face around here again!" The woman greeted, confusing Bill and Joe Toye who had appeared behind him. 

"And I didn't think I would be joining a Company but here I am." Alice replied before remembering the woman clutching to her. "What's going on?" She asked as people rushed around them. 

"Follow me." The new woman said before leading Alice, the woman, Bill and Joe away from the crowd and into a bakery. "The Germans left shortly before you arrived. Knowing this would happen, I tried to protect as many of the women as I could. I've been hiding them down here since the moment the Germans left." She continued as they moved into the basement where more women were hiding, except these women were calm and pulled the woman who was behind Alice into their arms as soon as they saw her. 

"What did they do?" Joe asked as the woman closed the door to the basement and stopped behind them. 

"Slept with the Germans. Many of the were forced, either by their husbands or the Germans themselves. Others did it willingly if they were promised food or other supplies to help their families. I haven't found one woman who did it willingly without gaining something in return." 

"And they're being tortured for it?" Bill questioned, turning to look at the woman. 

"Apparently." She answered, stepping past the two men and stopping next to Alice. "I'm glad your here. I could use your help." She told her before Bill spoke up about the stranger. 

"Yes, and how do you two know each other?" He asked. 

"I was stationed in Holland a while back, long before D-Day. Lotte was once a resistance fighter, but I guess she went rogue if she resorted to hiding in the basement of a bakery." Alice answered. 

"The Baker, Lucas, his wife was humiliated and murdered by the Germans. He offered a safe place where we could hide. It was a last resort. We're planning to move them out of town tomorrow. I could use your help." Lotte explained before they heard footsteps in the bakery. 

"Lotte! Lotte, waar ben jij?" They heard a man call. 

"That would be Lucas. Stay here." Lotte told them quietly before going back up the stairs and into the bakery. Bill and Joe moved so they were standing at the base of the stairs, out of sight of anyone who would open the door to the basement. Alice moved to the corner of the basement where the woman was being comforted by some of the other women. 

"Thank you, thank you." The woman repeated as Alice sat down in front of her. 

"Lotte told me what was happening. I'm glad I was able to help when I did." Alice told her. 

"I didn't want it. They forced me." She mumbled, obviously still in shock. 

"The Germans, they forced her into it. There was three of them. We found her outside of her own home the morning after." One of the women explained to Alice as a look of sympathy covered her face. 

"It's going to be ok. Lotte will find a way to make sure you're all safe." Alice told them as the door to the basement opened and Lotte came back down the stairs. Alice was the first to see her so she waved to Bill and Joe, telling them to chill. Lotte reached the bottom of the stairs as the baker, Lucas, followed. he looked at Alice skeptically before jumping when he noticed Bill and Joe by the stairs.

"Dit is Alice. Ze is bij het Amerikaanse leger. Dit zijn haar comrads..." _"This is Alice. She's with the US Army. These are her comrads..."_ Lotte introduced to Lucas before realizing she didn't know the names of the men Alice brought with her. Alice stepped forward, shaking the mans hand. 

"Ik ben Alice. Dit zijn Bill Guarnere en Joe Toye, mijn vrienden in mijn bedrijf." _"I'm Alice. These are Bill Guarnere and Joe Toye, my friends in my company."_ Alice spoke, hoping her Dutch was up-to-par. Lucas turned to the two men and shook their hands. 

"Alice, we should rally back with the Company. I'm sure Winters has some sort of plan going." Bill told her. Alice nodded as she turned to Lotte. 

"Once we figure out what we're doing, I'll come back and find you. Until then, keep a low profile." She told Lotte before turning to the baker. "Als iemand erom vraagt, waren we hier nooit. Blijf rustig en laat niemand anders in deze kelder, tenzij het Lotte is, ikzelf of deze twee, begrijp je dat?" _"If anyone asks for it, we were_ _never here. Stay calm and don't let anyone else in this cellar unless it's Lotte, myself or these two, do you understand?"_ The baker nodded and lead Alice, Bill and Joe upstairs to the main floor of the bakery. The three left as Lotte stopped at the door. People were still filing in the streets celebrating. Bill and Joe immediately asked if anyone had seen the Americans while Alice stayed back. 

"It's good to see you, Alice. You be safe with those Army boys. You and I both know how they can be." Lotte warned her. Alice only smiled. 

"I think I'm safe, Lot. Those two have my back, and I've got theirs." She told her. "Say, did I ever tell you about my life in America as a young girl?" She inquired. 

"I didn't even know you were American." Lotte answered surprised. 

"Long story short, Bill and I were friends as kids. I'll tell you the story later." Alice explained. 

"I'll find some wine. Be safe, liefde." Lotte said as the two came back for Alice. Lotte watched as the three left into the crowd towards where ever their Company was. Lotte felt eyes on her from the crowd, but she couldn't find who they belonged to so she left the bakery steps and went around the building. She climbed the eaves-trough and climbed into the building through the window when she was sure no one was watching her. She remained in the bakery for the rest of the day, making sure the woman that was brought in was alright as the hours passed. 

**~End of Chapter 9~**


	10. Eindhoven

**-**

**Eindhoven, Holland**

**-**

The three had found their Company just as Winters was giving out the orders. Men from the Dutch Resistance offered to help get the tanks over the bridges towards Nuenen, another small Dutch village in which David Webster knew a few literature facts about. A Perimeter was set up around Eindhoven and Easy Company managed to rest for the night, many families welcoming them into their homes or barns as thanks for helping push the Germans out of their town. 

Alice was not one of them. 

Alice had asked Winters and Nixon, separately, about the plans for the Company to move on. She then relayed the message onto Lotte when she returned to the Bakery late at night. She had entered through the window Lotte had entered through when she had eyes on her. It had been their secret way of entering safe houses back when Alice was in Holland the first time. Lucas, the baker, had always left the same window unlocked, but only Lotte and himself knew about it. Except know Alice knew about it since there was no back door and the front door was bolted shut. 

"We managed to scrounge up some Sherman Tanks to drive us into Nuenen. The British Tanks will follow behind us and we'll make the main assault. I haven't told any of the Commanding Officers about your plan to move the girls out, but I don't doubt the streets will be empty by the time the fighting starts in Nuenen." Alice explained to Lotte, pointing at the map laid out in front of them. A small candle on a slim silver candlestick lit the table just enough for the two to read the map and see each others faces. 

"Many of the folk may be more focused on the Americans and British leaving town that I may be able to sneak a load of the girls out of town the other way. That way, we can avoid any fighting going on in Nuenen and bypass any attention in Eindhoven." Lotte suggested, observing the map which showed the general area of Eindhoven and Nuenen. 

"You can't lead this many women out of the basement and across town on foot. It'd be too easy to spot. You'd need a truck of sorts." Alice told her dark haired ally. 

"Lucas makes deliveries every morning. The back of his truck is often covered to protect the goods on poor weather days. I could sneak a few girls at a time to a safe house on the other side of Eindhoven. Once I get them relocated, it'll be easier to leave town and move into the next village." 

"Seems like a lot of work. Aren't some of them married? With kids?" Alice questioned. 

"The married mothers downstairs, their husbands were all killed and their children have already been relocated. I have allies two towns over holding them until we arrive. Believe it or not, it's easier to get children out of Eindhoven than it is to get grown women out." Lotte stated, picking up her cup and sipping the wine inside. "The rest are young women; 17 to 20, not married and no children. They're willing to risk their lives to get out of Eindhoven so that they won't be publicly shamed like the ones we couldn't save." Lotte finished. 

"I hope this works." Alice mumbled, leaning over the table as Lotte sat back in her chair, eyeing up her blonde friend. 

"So...you going to tell me about him?" Lotte inquired, bringing her cup to her body and holding it in front of her. 

"About who?" Alice mumbled, still looking at the map in front of her. Not only was she plotting where Lotte would bring the women, but she was plotting the course for Easy Company and their journey to liberate Nuenen. 

"That man from earlier, the one you said was your childhood friend." Lotte reminded her. "Joe, I think his name was." She said with a smirk.

"Wrong man, my friend. I only met Joe in Carentan." Alice told her, sitting up in her chair, her arms crossed over the table. 

"Ah, so it was the handsome Bill Guarnere. He's quite the looker, you know?" Lotte stated, raising a suggestive eyebrow. 

"Want me to hook you up?" Alice questioned jokingly. 

"I want you to tell me the story. And none of that "long story short" nonsense. I want the whole story." Lotte persisted. She knew about Alice's journey from Berlin to Switzerland and then to France. But Lotte didn't know anything about her friends American heritage. 

"Well, my parents moved to America before I was born. I was born in South Philadelphia and I met Bill in grade school. He was the only kid that didn't mind that I was German in blood. He's the youngest of 10 kids and normally, you'd expect the youngest boy of a big family to be the brattiest, but that wasn't the case." Alice began to tell fondly. "We would spent recess together and then after school we'd go out and explore the ever-growing city of Philly. Some days we'd go out to the abandoned property and pretend we were mighty warriors and we'd fight the bushes with sticks and metal rods." Alice continued, a smile growing on her face as she recalled the find memories of her childhood, the memories she had thought were long forgotten in her new personality. "On rainy days, one of us would run down the street to the others house and we'd spend all day in one persons house." The smile brought on by the fond memories was soon gone when Alice remembered why she didn't see Bill for all those years. 

"And then it was all wiped away." She mumbled, staring at the flame atop the candle that was slowly melting the wax below. "My mom got sick. Pneumonia took away my childhood. When she got sick, I was the one to care for her and when she died, I was never allowed to leave the house. When the war started, my father got called back. And then we moved to Berlin. And I never saw him again. Never spoke to him, never wrote to him. He never wrote to me either." Alice's voice got quieter as she went on. "After mom died, I wasn't allowed to see him, I couldn't talk to him. He was never allowed at our house eve though my mother told him he is welcome any time. I guess that changed when she passed." 

"I know that feeling, mijn vriend. Pneumonia took both my parents. I was raised by my sister who evidently worked herself to death. She passed in her sleep and then I was left to raise my younger sister." Lotte told, relating deeply to her friend. 

"Its almost unimaginable how easy it is to lose your childhood. Some days I wish I could go back and relive those moments just so I could feel happy again. In between leaving America and making it back to Eindhoven, the only time I felt true happiness was when I met you and when I was reunited with Bill." Alice admitted. 

"We have lived a life of hardship and sorrow, my friend. And that has undoubtedly changed us into who we are today, but that does not mean that there was never happiness. Where we find that happiness is different and I know you find it with him, just like I find it in helping these girls. I believe we will do great things because of our troubles in the past and where we find our happiness. Mark my words, l'amour." Lotte stated, switching to French instead of Dutch to call Alice one of many nicknames. Alice sat up from her position leaning over the table and picking up her cup of wine. 

"May we find happiness when the war is done." She said, holding up her cup. 

"And may we forever be by each other side; in person or in spirit. Wherever the war may take us." Lotte added as they clinked their cups together before downing what ever wine was left in their cup. 

"When all this is done, and the war is over, why don't we go to America. Just the two of us, start a new life away from all the pain Europe has seemed to cause us." Alice suggested. She didn't make many friends within the U.A.O, but she did meet Lotte. The two worked together almost perfectly. They had similar views of how the world should be and they were patriotic in their own ways. 

"Why that would be America calling you back, my friend. My place in the world is here, in Holland. Your place is back in South Philadelphia, with him." Lotte told her delusional friend. 

"I would have to go through the citizen process again. I'm a French citizen right now." Alice muttered, looking at the watch on her wrist. 

"I'm sure your American friends can help with that." Lotte stated, standing up from her chair and folding up the map. "Now go, your friends need you." Lotte continued, ushering Alice towards the window. "And remember: I will be with you; in person or in spirit, l'amour." 

"Good luck tomorrow, Lotte. Maybe I'll find you when all of this is over." Alice told her as the two friends shared a hug. 

"You know where you'll find me." Without another word, Alice was out the window and climbing down the side of the building until she reached the ground. She looked back up at her smiling friend. 

"In person or in spirit, l'amour." Lotte called down before closing the window behind her as she disappeared inside the house. Alice stepped out from behind the building and into the dark, empty street. She hoisted her rifle up on her shoulder and began her stroll back towards the building where Bill and the rest of 2nd Platoon were waiting. Surprisingly, Bill was standing outside having a smoke and waiting for Alice to get back. 

"You're back late." He greeted, putting his smoke out on the window ledge beside him. 

"You know how girls are: always chatting about something different every minute." Alice beamed, putting on a smile. For some unknown reason, she felt rather nervous or scared about the events that would partake tomorrow. She didn't want to assume the worst, but she felt like tomorrow would be heartbreaking for her. 

"Everything alright?" Bill asked. 

"Yeah, just a lot on my mind, you know. With the evacuation and the big move on Nuenen tomorrow. The wine isn't helping either." Alice grinned, noting how Lotte and her had shared a bottle of wine and cracked open a second shortly before Alice had left. 

"You two sure are something." Bill chuckled. "Let's get you inside. You look like you could use some rest." He said, placing an arm around her shoulder as they went inside. Many of the men of 2nd Platoon were asleep. Others were reading or staring up at the ceiling. Alice felt like they had the same feeling as she did, the feeling that something bad was coming.

**~End of Chapter 10~**


	11. Nuenen

**-**

**Nuenen, Holland**

**-**

Alice lay awake most of the night. She found a spot on the second floor of the house 2nd Platoon was stationed in and lay quietly, thinking about what would happen the next day. It's safe to say she only got a couple hours of sleep that night. Her mind went over hundreds of possible outcomes of the attack on Nuenen tomorrow and each of them ended in disaster. 

Alice did not see Lotte the next day before she left. She saw the Bakers truck gone and the window was locked. The people of Eindhoven gathered around Easy Company and the British Tanks to bid them farewell and good luck. Alice assumed Lotte took the time to move as many of the women out of the basement as she could before anyone noticed. 

"Hey, you good?" Alice was torn from her trance by Joe Toye nudging her arm with his. She moved her gaze from the empty street behind them to his worried expression. 

"Yeah, I'm good." She answered before starting to follow the crowd to the tanks. 

"Really? 'Cause if you were good, I'm sure you wouldn't be spaced out staring down an empty street." He stated. 

"If you think that's bad, I found one of the replacements staring at a wall this morning." She told him as they reached the tank with the rest of 2nd Platoon, waiting to move out. 

"What ever you say, doll." Alice climbed up the side of the tank and took her spot on the side, close to the tracks on the left side. Bill was somewhere near the front of the tank and she didn't see where Joe had gone. She did know, however, Bull and his squad were at the front of the line of tanks. The rumble of the tanks moving down the road made her legs numb as she held onto the tank with her right hand while her legs dangled off the side. Her helmet was loose-fitting on the top of her head and rattled a bit when the tank hit a hole or bump in the road. Many of the publicly shamed women of Eindhoven were still in the town, except for the one that they passed on the road. 

Her head was shaved and scabs had formed in spots where the shears or scissors used to cut her hair had cut her skin as well. She held a bundle in her arms and upon closer inspection, Alice realized it was a baby. The sight of it all had led her to wonder if the baby was a product of the Germans forcing the women into activities they didn't want to partake in. Alice watched as one of the men walking beside the first tank handed her a box of rations. If he hadn't, Alice would've. 

The woman noticed Alice riding on the side of the tank as she passed and shot her a small smile, to which Alice had returned. So far, in her time being with Easy Company, the war had brought greater sadness and disappointment in humanity. There was no use in fighting with the Resistance Group of Eindhoven, but there was use in evacuating much of the women who fell victim to the evil eye of the German soldiers. Alice knew this, Lotte knew this, and after the events of yesterday, Bill knew this as well.

As the group neared closer to the town, the tanks came to a stop and one of the Lieutenants got off- Alice had forgotten his name. No one knew his motives for standing out in the open and what got most of their attention was Bull calling out for the Lieutenant right before a lone shot rang through the open area. Alice jumped from her side of the tank and spotted an Armored Vehicle driving down the treeline to her left. 

"Armor! Left Flank!" She called to the men around her as she followed them to the other side of the tank, using it as a Platoon Shield. The Company had their rifles up and ready to go as they crawled into the ditch, preventing the Armored Vehicle or any other surrounding Germans from hitting them easily. The tanks acted as shields and the chances that the Germans knew they were in the ditch were slim to none. Alice lost track of both Bill and Joe and with the line of men in the ditch not moving towards the town, their chances of dodging the gunfire were decreasing rapidly. Alice moved to the right of the line and saw Bull waving the line forward. Les Hashy had begun to move before the medic was shot on the road and he ducked back into the ditch. 

Alice had lunged forward to go move the line, but Bull had made it there before she got two feet away from her previous position. Except she didn't move fast enough to her protective position as a bullet came from the left field and hit her square in the helmet, knocking her to the ground on the right side of the ditch. 

Dazed and confused, Alice lay in the grassy dirt while the rest of the platoon beside her began crawling forward, into the town. She took off her helmet and brought in front of her face, inspecting the bullet dent that hadn't reached her skull, thank God. 

"Alice! You alright?!" She heard someone shout to her as she placed the helmet back on her head and became fully aware of her surroundings. She hadn't seen who it was that had asked her so she got up as fast as she could. 

"Yeah, I'm good!" She shouted over gunfire before being pushed to follow the rest of the Company. She crouched until they reach the end of the ditch and the Company ran out onto the road and into Nuenen. The gunfire ceased as some of the men had shot the remaining the Germans that had entered the town and started firing at them. The Company raced into town and took cover beside buildings, checking corners and clearing out buildings while there were no noticeable Germans ready to fight them. 

Alice followed the first group she could keep up with as they rounded a house, checking the corner to make sure there was no one there ready to shoot them. The town was quiet after they had taken care of the Germans firing on them. Alice only heard the running, heavy footsteps of the men around her, the sound of fire crackling from the burning German armour and the shouts of a man wishing the troops away. 

Alice fell into a wall behind a group of the men, sinking into the wall to catch her breath. She looked up just in time to see that she fell in beside Bill and a portion of his squad. He must have seen the bullet dent in her helmet because she saw his face contort into a series of expressions, as if he was planning to scold her about it, but then told himself it wasn't the time nor place to do so. 

The tanks that brought the Company into Nuenen had begun to roll in after them, slowly making their way into town. Alice followed Bill and the squad as they fell in next to a building with a protected view of the road. Alice watched as Martin and Heffron ran out into the road, waving at the tanks to stop. Heffron had stayed on the ground, watching their backs as Martin climbed the tank, yelling something at the Commander. 

"What do you think they're talking about?" Bill asked, peering around the corner to watch the scene go down. 

"Who knows. Martin and Bull were waving about something like mad a few seconds ago." Alice informed him, looking in the direction Bull and Martin had been waving about. She peeked around the corner, passed where Bull was crouched down and saw a German Tiger covered in camouflage tarping and branches; some with leaves and others without. 

"Shit." She cursed before ducking back next to Bill. "Tiger, hidden between two buildings. Our tanks can't see them no doubt." She told him, as he weakly attempted to look around the corner. 

"Why don't they just shoot a couple rounds through the building and take care of it?" He asked as the two watched Martin and Heffron retreated back to their covered positions directly across from Bull and his squad. Everyone in the area watched as the tanks continued to move forward, obviously ignoring Martin's advice or warning about the tank. Alice watched as the German tank slowly creeped forward out of its hiding spot when she noticed movement behind the last Sherman tank. 

"It's a trap." She stated, turning to Bill. "I think this is a trap there was moveme-" She was cut off by the Tiger shooting a shell at the leading British Tank and Bull commanding everyone to scatter. Alice didn't bother to finish her warning as a man-powered canon cart was pushed out from behind another building. She forgot about the enemy fire as she followed Bill away from the wall of the building. 

She ran with the squad as they all started to retreat, most likely back to the road they came in from. Alice for her life before one of the replacements in Bill's squad tripped over a broken down stick-and-wire fence. No words were shared as she stopped, lunged back to where she was only a mere second ago and pulled the replacement to his feet before they both continued running. She kept a secure grip on his jacket until she was sure he wasn't going to trip again. The squad ran until a couple martyr shells dropped around them, and they were forced to scatter which left Alice separated from the group. 

She ducked behind a stone wall as a squad of Krauts went running towards the road where most of E Company was trying to get to. She watched as a lot of them turned back and opened fire, protecting the back of their brothers in arms until another line of men crouched and gave suppressing fire, allowing the first line to retreat some more. Alice noticed there wasn't any more Germans coming from around the wall so she knelt on one knee and started shooting at the backs of the Germans; she felt the same emotion she felt any time she fired her weapon or took a life.

She was angry; angry that her father had agreed to drag his children back to Germany and serve for a Fascist prick like Hitler. She was angry that her brother was following suit and she was angry that she had to resort to fighting as a secret soldier in order to escape from an arranged marriage with yet another Nazi pig. 

When she noticed the entire squad of Germans had been downed, she stepped up from the stone wall and checked her surroundings before trying to run and catch up with the squad. She had almost made it too until she ran into a lone German who tried to stick her with his bayonet. She managed to duck enough that it just barely scratched her ribs, but the dastardly bastard of a German had then pulled the trigger on his rifle, to which Alice tried to dodge but caught another grazing lower on the side of her abdomen. She stood up and swiped the Germans gun away before raising her own rifle with one arm and hitting him in the side of the neck with it. 

Not the best move but it gave her a slight advantage. 

She kicked the Germans rifle out of his hands and kicked him in the gut, causing him to hit the ground before he earned himself a lead salad as she raised her rifle and sent a bullet into his skull, taking yet another life she wouldn't have had to if her family wasn't so fucked up. Shortly after she had downed one of her enemies, a martyr blast landed near her and she fled to the nearest corner to hide. Luckily, her hiding spot gave her perfect view of the road. Unfortunately, her view allowed for her to watch as the entire company fled on trucks, leaving her behind. 

She watched as an entire company, maybe more, took the places of her company in the town of Nuenen. She thought fast before sprinting towards a barn and praying it was empty as she opened the weakly man-door and shutting it behind her. She hoped a German hadn't caught her as she looked around the barn. There was a upper loft, but the only visible ladder to get to it was busted, as if someone was thrown into it and it shattered. Nonetheless, she still had to find somewhere to hide and up above seemed the best option. 

Ignoring the splintering pains in her side from her wounds, she jumped up to reach the remains of the ladder bolted to the wooden post before pulling herself up the first few rungs before she could get her feet under her. She heard voices surrounding the barn, German voices, which made her climb faster and collapse in the upper loft. She moved quietly towards the outer wall and behind a couple stacks of hay so they wouldn't see her from the other side of the barn. She waited and listened as they walked around the barn, but never came inside. Martyr and tank blasts followed the American troops down the road as they fled to safety until they eventually stopped and any American bodies were confirmed dead. 

The Germans retook Nuenen. Operation: Market Garden had failed. No tanks were going over the line and into the Rhine. The men of Easy Company would not be home by Christmas.

**-End of Chapter 11-**


	12. Barns 'n' Bulls

**-**   
**Nuenen, Holland**   
**-**

Upon making it to the safety of the trucks, Buck Compton was loading into the back of a truck, wooden door and all. Bill had only been focusing on getting his superior officer to safety that he hadn't noticed Alice wasn't with the company. He looked around at the loading trucks and hadn't seen the small figure or bright blonde hair of his childhood friend. He turned to Joe who had finally reached the trucks with the last of the Company men. 

"Hey, Joe. You seen Alice anywhere?" he asked rather frantically. 

"No, I thought she would have been with you." He answered before everyone was loaded into the trucks. Bill approached Winters, hiding his frantic worry. 

"Winters, Alice is missing. No one's seen Bull either." He informed his superior, trying not to seem desperate to find his friend. 

"That's what I've heard. We need to get out of dodge, though. We'll talk about finding them when we get to safety." Winters told him, ushering him to take the last spot in the last truck. The entire ride to the top of the hill he watched the town of Nuenen get smaller and smaller as they got farther away from the harm it brought their company. Alice was missing and so was Bull. No one knew where they last were or if they were even still alive. 

The only people who knew the whereabouts of the two MIA Easy Company troops were the MIA soldiers themselves. Alice was still hiding in the loft of the barn, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her side as she held pieces of her shirt to the two graze wounds. She had quietly taken off her jacket and cut the sleeves off the shirt underneath before putting her jacket back on. The sleeves weren't long enough to tie around her waist and cover the wounds so she held two separate pieces of cloth to the wounds as she lay on her left side, her head resting on her helmet and her rifle in front of her if she need. 

She couldn't help but think of the panic she was causing Bill by being missing, but then again it wasn't her fault. She didn't intend for the martyr blast to separate her from her crew and she didn't intend for the lone German to attack her head-on. She lay still on the hay-strewn loft before she heard struggled attempts at the man-door to the barn before it was opened and someone rushed in to close it behind them, much like she had. She prayed it was an American and she hoped it was at least someone from her Company. She watched as they backed towards the opposite side of the barn as she slowly and quietly sat up, eyeing the soldier in the dark. He was tall, with wide shoulders and kind of looked like the silhouette of Buck Compton. But as they moved slightly and a sliver of moonlight hit his face, she saw it was Bull Randleman. She let her head fall onto a block of hay and it had alerted him. 

When she looked back up in his direction, he had his rifle pointed square at her face. Knowing that a lone gun shot would alert the Germans, he didn't pull the trigger. 

"Bull. That you?" She whispered, hoping he would lower his rifle and not attack her the second she showed herself. 

"Yeah, that's me. You that new girl in Bill's squad?" He asked. She couldn't blame him for not remembering her name since she had only formally become acquainted to him while he was under the influence of British Ale. 

"Yeah. What are you still doing here? I thought the Company left." She asked, pushing herself to her knees and grabbing her helmet and rifle. 

"They did. I got left behind. And I'm assuming you did too." He answered in a whisper. She nodded, only he could barely see it. 

"I got separated from the squad, got attacked by a Kraut before I could follow them." She explained as he approached the broken ladder. She handed down her rifle and helmet before pausing, hoping the pain in her side would pause long enough for her to get down from the loft. 

"You alright?" he asked, noticing the fabric stuck to her side from the blood. 

"It's just a couple grazes. Hurt like Hell though." She said as she tried to shift her legs over the edge of the loft. Bull set her things aside and reached up, holding onto her legs as she slowly pushed herself off the loft floor. He made sure she didn't hit the ground too hard, both so the Germans didn't hear and to prevent further injury. 

Footsteps outside the barn sent the two into alert mode as they took their rifles and ducked into one of the stables in the barn. Bull kept an eye on the man-door while Alice kept an eye on the big barn doors on the opposite side of the barn. The two waited in silence as an older man came through the man-door as if the town wasn't under siege a couple hours ago. It must have been his barn because he walked in like he owned the place. Bull was up first, he held a knife to the mans throat because they both knew a gun was useless. Alice switched her gaze from the barn doors to the man Bull had pushed up against a support beam. The man seemed spooked but he didn't call for the Germans, as if he was also scared of them as much as he was scared of the Americans that were hiding in his barn. 

Alice turned away from the barn door for a mere second before noticing another figure standing in the door way. The older man had waved her over, told her to shut the door behind her as Bull eased up on his grip before beginning to favor his shoulder. 

"You hit too?" Alice asked, lowering her weapon as Bull ushered the two townsfolk into the stable with them. 

"It's probably nothing." He mumbled, taking a seat in between Alice and the two people. Alice leaned back enough to see his shoulder with a quite obvious piece of shrapnel sticking out. 

"I take it a piece of shrapnel qualifies as nothing to you." She retorted. The man must have understood them to some extent because he pulled a couple of kraut bandages out of his jacket pocket. Alice ignored the mans movements as he moved to help Bull. The young girl had moved next to Alice with the second bandage in hand, ready to help. Alice nodded before peeling the sleeves off her side and shaking off her jacket. The graze from the bayonet and the graze from the bullet were fairly close together. The girl took a handkerchief out of her dress pocket and folded it so it covered both wounds. Alice hand lifted her shirt so that the girl could wrap the Kraut bandage around her waist and tie it off on Alice's good side. 

As Alice let her shirt drop, the man had gotten the shrapnel out of Bull's shoulder and stuffed the first bandage into the wound as to stop the bleeding. Alice was in the middle of putting her jacket back on, the four heard voices outside the barn doors. Alice was first to grab her rifle as Bull ushered the three towards the man-door. Alice sat in front of the two as they hid behind a short wooden wall while Bull crouched closer to the barn doors as they were pushed open by a pair of Germans. He sat ready as they inspected the place, saw nothing and began to leave. The first had left the barn entirely, but the girl had moved ever so slightly from behind a post that a bucket was kicked over and the second German panned his attention to the back of the barn where Alice sat with the two. He began to approach when he looked down and saw the bloodied bandage that was one in Bull's shoulder. 

Alice went to attack while he was bent down, distracted, and picking up the bandage, but Bull had beat her to it. He grabbed the Kraut by the jacket and turned him before driving his knife into his neck and dragging the body into the stable. The older man sat looking shocked at what he had seen while the girl was more frightened than anything. Alice helped Bull cover the body in hay before Bull ushered the two out of the barn. 

"I think the German's have quieted down. We should be able to make a hightail for the field by the road we came in." Alice whispered, watching the barn door for more suspecting Germans. 

"It'd be better than sitting in this barn all night." He agreed as the two quietly left the barn through the open barn doors. No Germans were in sight as they snuck around nearby buildings. 

-

A group of Hoobler, Webster, Garcia, Hashy and Cobb stalked the ditches through the night, dodging the sights of any passing German as the armored vehicles left Nuenen. It was supposed to be Hoobler and Guarnere going back in, but as the other four volunteered, Guarnere upheld his duties as Sergeant and stayed back with the rest of the Company. He wanted nothing more than to go back out and find Alice himself, but if five Privates wanted to go find Bull then he trusted they would find her too.

As the sun began to rise, the town of Nuenen was completely abandoned. The group walked down the dirt road, weapons held in front of them ready for an attack. Meanwhile in the village of Nuenen, the left behind duo began to walk through the field of dug up foxholes from previous Companies or Germans. The mood had saddened when the two came across a foxhole with the body of James Miller, his skull was almost cut in half from what ever killed him; martyr round, sniper shot, grenade. Alice was the first to reach out for his dog tags. Garcia and Hashy would be more than grateful to have them so they could either keep something to remind them of their friend or send them back to Miller's family. 

The moment of mourning was cut short as a vehicle came speeding down the road. Bull watched as the vehicle came closer and the US Army logo painted on the doors became clearer. Their help was there. The vehicle only consisted of a driver and the machine gunner on the back, but due to the lack of seating in the vehicle, Alice was wedged uncomfortably between Bull and the driver as the vehicle was turned around and began driving towards where Easy Company was stationed outside of Nuenen. 

The group of five had heard the vehicle coming their way and ducked into a ditch beside the road, guns ready. Hoobler had been the first to see it was one of their own vehicles and flagged it down, waving for the machine gunner to not shoot at the soldiers in the ditch. The vehicle turned to a stop, revealing Bull and Alice riding shotgun. Hoobler had been the first to approach the vehicle, greeting the two with a smile. 

"Where the fuck you been?" he asked jokingly, glad to have him back. Alice paid no attention to the words shared between the platoon Sergeant and his men. She kept her expression stale as she noticed Garcia and Hashy were among the ones in the rescue squad. She was given no greeting and gave nothing in return until they made it back to where the Company was stationed. 

Johnny Martin had been the first to acknowledge the new arrivals, which got the attention of the rest of the Toccoa men. Bill had welcomed Bull back first before he noticed Alice was among the 7 returned soldiers. He hesitated as he noticed she had been handing Garcia the dog tags of Miller. 

"We found him in a foxhole as we left town." She told them as the dog tags left her hand and fell into Tony's. "Figured you guys would want them, send them home to his family or something." She added, not making eye contact with either of them. 

"Thanks Alice. It's good to see you made it out alive." Hashy said, gently patting her on the shoulder like many of the men had done to Bull. Garcia noticed an approached Bill and nudged Hashy to leave. Alice smiled as Bill stopped in front of her. 

"I see you dragged the Bull outta that shithole." He greeted. 

"Sort of." She grinned in return, her left hand snaking around her waist as she felt something drip down her right side. 

"Shit, you hurt?" He asked, moving part of her jacket out of the way. 

"Just had a tango with a Kraut. Got me a couple times, but I'm alright." She assured him, as she noticed she was bleeding through the bandages again. 

"Eh, Doc Roe will fix you up and you'll be as good as new." Bill grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and bringing her over to where Bull and Martin were walking as one of the Lieutenants called a move out. Martin called his squad to order, and then Bull and then Bill. Easy Company began filing up the hill and towards the trucks. Bull was placed at the tail end of one truck, Luz patching up his shoulder the best he could as that truck drove away. Bill was about to help Alice into Second Platoons truck as Nixon approached them. 

"You were right, Alice. British Intelligence was wrong about the Krauts in Nuenen." he admitted. 

"At least we have someone else to blame for all this." She replied before noticing his rather saddened expression. "It wasn't your fault, Nixon. You were following orders and so was I. Shit happens." She added. Nixon only nodded. 

"Yeah. Right." He muttered. "You take care of that side of yours. We're moving out to find another way into Germany, we're gonna need your help." He said before walking away to join Winters and the rest of the Company Officers. 

The trucks were loaded and began driving away from Nuenen and away from Eindhoven, which Alice learned had been bombed while they retreated from the attack on Nuenen. She prayed Lotte had gotten out in time before they obliterated the town. The last person she wanted to lose was Lotte. Both of them had worked too hard to be cut off. As long as she was with Easy Company, she could make sure Bill was safe and that they'd both make it out of the war. She couldn't protect Lotte if they were in two different places. 

And that scared her even more than being left behind did. 

**-End of Chapter 12-**


	13. Crossroads

**-**   
**Holland**   
**_**

After the events in Nuenen, Alice and Bull were taken with the rest of the injured to an aid station temporarily. Bull's shoulder was stitched up and bandaged while the wounds on Alice's sides were cleaned, the wound from the bayonet was stitched before both were bandaged separately, the bandages being wrapped around her torso and tied off. 

On October 5th, 1944, Alice was dropped off where Easy Company was stationed near a crossroads that the Germans had been holding up. Except when she got there, half the Company was gone and Private Alley was being carried on a stretcher to CP. She found Lipton, who had been helping Roe move Alley to the medical building before being told to wait outside. There was enough medical personnel to help Alley that Lipton wasn't needed. 

"Hey, Lipton. What's going on?" She asked as she approached the disheveled man. 

"Patrol went wrong at the Crossroads. Alley got hit the worst, Liebgott took a hit in the neck, but he went back out with a squad after Winters took First Squad." Lipton explained, trying to wipe the blood off his hands. 

"Shit, do they need any backup? I'll go out." She offered, hoisting her rifle up onto her shoulder. 

"We're waiting for any radio calls. They got Luz out there, but I'm assuming by morning they'll need more ammo so hold tight. You can do an ammo run when they need it." He told her as they went back to the barn where most of Easy Company was stationed. Bill or Joe were no where to be found, probably out at the Crossroads with the rest of the men that got sent out. 

Alice followed Lipton back to the barn in which him and a bunch of other members of Easy were staying, except it was pretty much empty since everyone else was at the crossroads. 

-

By morning light, Alice wasn't needed for an ammo run because she had been dragged along to the remnants of a bloody battle in which Easy Company men had emerged victorious and slaughtered about two full companies of SS soldiers, plus the 18 that were going to be interrogated at Regimental HQ and the hundred or so wounded Germans being brought into Allied medical care and then off to who knows where. Alice had been pulled to the side, helping load the 22 wounded paratroopers onto trucks to be taken back into American care, David Webster being one of them. He only got hit in the leg, but it was enough to send him to a hospital. He had stopped next to Alice who had a soldiers arm over her shoulder and was acting as a crutch to get him to a truck. 

"Hey, I got that book in my bag back at the CP station. I finished it while you were in the hospital. You can read it if you want, just only if you send me the rest of my stuff." He told her as the crew he was heading back with started to walk away from him. 

"Sure. Thanks, Webster." She smiled as another 506 medic came up to help with the wounded man she was helping, but ended up taking over completely. 

"You know, everyone else just calls me Web. I think we know each other well enough that you can too." He grinned, lifting his helmet into the crook of his arm. Alice nodded. 

"Alright. Web it is then." She smiled, earning a near silent chuckle from him. "You take care of that leg. I'll see you when you get back." She bid him farewell, before running to the next wounded man who needed help into a truck. She didn't know it yet, but Bill had spotted her helping the men and knew she was back safe and sound which meant there was no need to bother her in helping. As the rest of Easy Company saw how determined she was to help the men she had been traveling with, they deemed her less of a threat to their safety, but a few others still deemed her a threat to their egos. 

In the middle of loading the last few wounded Germans into a separate truck, Colonel Sink had approached Alice, asked her to follow him to a truck where he debriefed Nixon and Winters on what happened at other CP Headquarters down the road. Alice figured the only reason she was there was because since she didn't hold rank, but was still working with Easy Company, she better know some stuff, even if it meant knowing things only higher ranking officers would know first. 

"Third Battalion got the Hell beat out of 'em. Horton was killed." Sink explained as Nixon lit up a cigarette, offering one to Alice, which she unexplainably accepted. 

"Major Horton's dead?" Nixon questioned, offering his lighter to Alice. 

"They hit 2nd Battalion in force. He was organized in the defense." He explained before excusing himself and Winters from the other two. 

"Did you know this Major Horton well?" Alice asked, hoping to provide some sympathy if it was due. Nixon just shrugged. 

"Not very. He screwed off to a wedding in London when we were training the men in Aldbourne. Good man, just didn't know him well." He answered. "Why don't you head back with the rest of the men, see what kind of trouble you can get into." He said, basically dismissing her. 

"Yes, sir." She said, giving a nod in farewell before stalking off to find Bill. She was stopped along the way by Malarkey, Penkala and Muck and decided to stay for a bit and socialize. 

"Coffee?" Malarkey offered as Alice flicked the butt of her cigarette into the mud. 

"Sure, thanks." She accepted as he shared some of the groups coffee with her. 

"How was the hospital?" Penkala asked, sipping on his own coffee as Muck poked a spoon at his ear. 

"Just like last time: boring. I'm just glad I was back in time to help out with the wounded." She answered. The group had sat and talked for a bit before Captain Heyliger called Easy to move out back to town. Alice rode in one of the trucks with Malarkey and his buddies, joking around with them in hopes they accepted her. Although she told herself she wouldn't worry about earning anyone's acceptance, she still found herself trying her best to win it. 

When they arrived back at the barn, she reunited with Bill, who was happy to see her back out of the hospital. They retired to their quiet corner with Joe and a couple others while the cooks came around and handed out some hot food for the night. It was a quiet night for Easy after the excitement the crossroads brought them, even Alice. It was closer to midnight when Bill helped Alice change her bandages after she started to bleed through them from the constant movement before she retired to a lone hay bale and caught some well earned sleep. 

**-End of Chapter 13-**


	14. Operation: Pegasus

**-**   
**October 17th, 1944**   
**Schoonderlogt, Holland**   
**-**

Days after the attack on the crossroads and Easy Company was stationed in Schoonderlogt: a small town near a river where- on the other side- a Company of British troops were holed up by the Germans. Winters had approved Alice to be a part of Operation: Pegasus while she was running errands and paperwork for him while he worked in charge of Battalion. Herself and a man named Silinski ran errands, fetched coffee and brought new papers to Winters for him to sign. Silinski was ordered by HQ to do the job. Alice decided to volunteer. Most of the time, she sat in Winters' office space, drinking coffee and offering words of suggestion, advice and anything else he needed. Her small amount of help had gotten Winters through many stacks of papers, although they just kept coming. 

"What do you think about Captain Heyliger?" She asked, trying to strike up a conversation once she noticed he was beginning to get too invested into the typewriter. 

"I think he's a good man. He's got the leadership skills and the experience, but..." His words trailed off as he began typing for a second before looking back up, only for Alice to chime in. 

"But you want to be the one leading Easy through Operation: Pegasus." She said, finishing his sentence for him. 

"Yeah, something like that." He said quietly before looking back at the paper in his typewriter. 

"You've grown attached to your men, Captain. Many leaders I've met did that and it got them all killed, but you're different." She began, piquing his interest in her strangely compliment. "You don't look at yourself as above them like most. I can see that you'd be willing to step onto the line and become a fighting soldier if it meant your men got out safely." She continued. 

"Is that a good thing?" He asked, cutting into her observation. 

"To me it is. You're one of the bets leaders I've seen since I started working for the U.A.O. and I think that's why I didn't take more time to decide before joining you and your Company. Under you leadership, this Company has had the best outcome in this war by far." She added before footsteps coming up the stairs interrupted their conversation. The two watched as Silinski came back with a couple more papers for Winters to sign. Alice kept quiet as the two spoke quietly between them before more footsteps came up the stairs, and in walked Nixon and Heyliger. 

"Damn, that's a lot of homework." Nixon stated, stopping so he stood in front of Winters' desk. 

"And I thought Executive Officer was supposed to be a fun job." Heyliger chimed in as Nixon began to eye up Silinski. 

"Who are you?" 

"Silinski, sir." 

"Silinski's my orderly." Winters explained as Nixon let out a low, constant whistle. 

"Well, rank does have its privileges." Heyliger stated. 

"I don't suppose you do stuff like get coffee?" Nixon questioned as Alice tuned out the conversation and began thinking of Operation: Pegasus. She knew the jist of the plan: Canadian Engineers had supplied the boats to get Easy Company across the river and bring back all the British ad Easy Company before the Germans notice and get everyone back to safety. Their mission would begin when they reached the other side of the Rhine at 0100. Alice tuned back in when Heyliger and Nixon broke the news that the Operation was good to go and Heyliger was going to lead. 

"We drilled with the boats all day, Lieutenant Welsh is coming along and the Canadian Engineers. Colonel Dobie knows his stuff." Moose explained, answering Winters question about jobs. 

"Know how many times you want to cross the river?" Winters questioned again, obviously already knowing the answer after thinking about it all day. 

"If there really are 140 Brits in hiding over there, 3 trips." Moose answered confidently. Alice listened as Winters began to lecture Moose on speed, as if he was teaching at a military school before Nixon intervened. 

"Dick, Easy's in good hands. Plus we got Alice so it'll be double the experience if anything goes south." Nixon assured his friend, pointing over his shoulder at Alice. She kept quiet as Moose and Winters exchanged a hand shake and wished each other good luck. 

"Does that mean I should get my stuff ready?" Alice asked as the two were about to leave. 

"Preferably, yes. I'll fill you in on anything if you'll follow me to CP." Moose offered, earning a nod from her. 

"Try not to worry, Winters. Easy will be back to safety in no time." Alice assured Winters. 

"You be safe out there, Alice. We don't need to be sending you to another hospital." Winters bid farewell, only earning a chuckle from Alice before she followed Moose out of the attic. As they left the building, Moose noticed Nixon wasn't following right behind and decided to bring up the plan. 

"If it's alright with you, I'd like for you to accompany me across the river. I hear you have a lot of skills and experience in stealth from your time running solo." Heyliger offered as they began walking towards CP. 

"It would be my pleasure. Are we only packing guns and ammo to cross?" She inquired, wanting to know more of the mission. 

"Yes, ma'am. Division isn't worried too much about blacking out anything that may shine in the moonlight. It's a fairly cloudy night I don't think we'll have a problem." He answered. "I assume you were there for the debriefing?" 

"Standing off in the back, but yes, I was there. Canadian Engineers supplied the boats, we row across, Easy takes cover while we take the first two groups of Brits back over, last rip consists of bringing back Easy and what ever remaining Brits we got." She explained, proving she knew about the mission. 

"Alright, then. I'll leave you to get your things. We're meeting by the fence at the edge of the village at 2330, be at the edge of the river by 0030." he informed her. 

"Good to know. I'll be there." She stated before giving a salute and walking away. Bill had been injured on a message run shortly after she returned so she had been all on her lonesome unless she had found Joe or Malarkey and his gang. 

She had left her stuff in an old trunk in the building she was staying in with Bill's squad. She was offered to lead in his absence, but she respectfully declined, knowing the men would hate her more. 

When she arrived back at the building, much of 2nd Platoon was getting their guns and ammo ready, making small talk with each other. She managed to slip through partially unnoticed to the second floor of the building. She opened the trunk in which she had stashed her stuff and dug out only her rifle and ammo belts. She strapped the ammo belts around her waist, avoiding her still healing wounds. She made sure her rifle was loaded and ready to go before leaving the building all together. 

Shouldering her weapon, she began to walk back towards CP before being stopped by Silinski. 

"Winters has requested to see you before you leave." he informed her. 

"Good to know. Thanks, Silinski." She said, changing her course and heading back for the building in which Winters was crammed in. A few officers hung out in the main floor of the building, to which she saluted before climbing the stairs to the attic, where she found Winters still typing away at the type writer.

"Silinski said you needed to see me, sir." Alice greeted, taking her spot before his desk. 

"Yes, I need a favour." He began, typing out the rest of his ongoing sentence and standing up from his desk. "I need you to report back to me as soon as Easy Company returns. I want to know any casualties, any troubles getting across the river, anything and everything that happens." He requested. 

"I will, sir. But you don't have to worry. Captain Heyliger had requested I be by his side during the mission since I have a lot of experience in stealth. I'll make sure we get everybody out of there safely. I promise." Alice assured him once more, earning a couple nods from the worried Captain. 

"Very well then. Good luck out there, Alice." Winters bid in farewell. 

"Thank you, sir." Alice replied, giving a salute. Winters returned the salute before Alice turned to leave the make-shift office. Her venture down to the main floor was uneventful. She passed the time by waiting outside of CP for Moose Heyliger. It wasn't uncommon for newer Captains to request the supervision of another officer, but it had been the first time a newer Captain had requested the supervision of Alice. 

-

By 2330, Alice had made her way to the fence where some of the troops of Easy Company had already gathered. George Luz, Bull Randleman and Frank Perconte were of the first ones there, plus a couple of the newest replacements Alice hadn't cared to learn the names of. Alice had ben first greeted by Bull. He had a cigar between his fingers like usual while the others just had smokes. Within minutes, Moose Heyliger, Lieutenant Welsh, Colonel Dobie, the Canadian Engineers and the rest of Easy Company had arrived at the fence and was ready to move out. 

It was a short, but silent trip to the river. As soon as the group left the town it was light and noise discipline. The boats were loaded in a quiet manner. Alice had joined Bull in rowing until they reached the other side and crouched down by the shore, awaiting direction from Moose. Alice stayed close to the Dobie and Heyliger as Easy Company and the Engineers stretched out down the river. Lieutenant Welsh had the .30 cals moved down the line. 

"Well, Colonel. Where are they?" Heyliger asked as Colonel Dobie pointed into the bush. Another British troop came out of the bush and greeted his Commander. 

"Moose Heyliger, 506 101st Airborne. This is Alice." Heyliger introduced, shaking hands with the new arrival. Alice turned to shake his hand as well and for the first time in a long time, she hadn't heard some snarky remark about there being a woman with a Company of men. Heyliger gave Colonel Dobie the go ahead to bring the rest of his men and the two Brits took off back into the bush. Within seconds, 140 British Troops had emerged from the hedgerows. 

The boat trips took mere minutes before everyone was back on the Allied side of the river. Alice walked alongside of Heyliger and Colonel Dobie as the group returned to town even larger than they had left. Alice followed Heyliger and Dobie into the office in which Winters was still working on paperwork. 

"You still doing paperwork, sir?" Alice asked as she was the first to enter the office. 

"Without your help it's taking me a bit longer than usual." He said in reply before standing up from his desk. "How'd everything go?" he asked as Heyliger and Dobie trailed in behind Alice. 

"As smooth as it could have gone. Zero casualties to report for Easy and the Brits." Heyliger announced happily. 

"Great, that's great." Winters said before turning to Alice, who had been leaning against a table along the wall. "How was the command during it all?" he asked, referring to Heyliger. 

"Moose knew what he was doing. I think we didn't have to worry about a thing besides rowing the boats." She replied. Her answer was true. Moose Heyliger had shown an excellent demonstration of leadership which resulted in Easy Company making it back without injury as well as the Red Devils. 

"I can vouch for that remark. Your Captain here has some remarkable leadership skills, and the Red Devils and myself are very thankful." Colonel Dobie stated, earning a series of slight nods from Winters. 

"That's good to hear, puts my worry at ease." 

-

The three had left Winters to finish his business as Dobie and Heyliger continued to talk about the victorious mission. Alice had begun to turn to walk back to the house she was shacked up in before Colonel Dobie stopped her. 

"The Red Devils are celebrating our success with the rest of your Company if you wish to join us. After all, you did aid in our victory." Dobie told her. 

"Sure," Alice replied in slight surprise. "Besides, I think I could use a drink." 

"Jolly good, then." 

-

"Moose Heyliger and the American 101st have done the Devils a good service, making it possible to return and fight the enemy on another day." Dobie announced, giving his grand speech. "To Easy Company, to Victory, and Curahee!" 

"Curahee!" Alice followed suit as every man in the barn had downed their drinks in celebration. Dobie stepped down from the spotlight as the two groups of soldiers began drinking and mingling with each other, making new friends and celebrating yet another success. Alice was handed another cup of what ever alcohol they managed to scrounge up. 

"So how did a woman like you begin fighting with the Americans?" Dobie inquired as he approached the lone soldier. 

"You want to full story or the shortened version?" She joked. 

"Which ever version you feel like telling." 

"My father is a Nazi. I ran away from our house in Germany when I was 16. The agency that got me out of Berlin brought me in. I trained to be a solider spy and until D-day I worked solo in the field. My organization had actually decoded a bunch of German messages that gave further intel towards the D-Day landings before it was disbanded." She explained, not feeling any remorse like she usually would only because of the alcohol coursing through her system. 

"And you're all that's left of this underground allied group?" Dobie questioned. 

"Yes, sir. I found Winters on D-Day after he landed. Met up with him and Easy Company in Carentan and been with them ever since." She continued. "Aside from the occasional hospital trip, of course." She added. 

"Well, you sure do have the experience and skill to be in the field. It's been an honor to have you will us tonight." Dobie stated, shaking her hand. 

The celebration went on until the early hours of the morning. Alice had left earlier and retired to her spot in the building with 2nd Platoon. Operation: Pegasus was a success, but there was considerable talk around CP about moving into forested areas. Alice hadn't heard what was said exactly, but since then she had a nagging feeling that some things were about to get very bad, very fast. 

**-End of Chapter 14-**


	15. Warm Welcome

**-**   
**Holland**   
**1944**   
**-**

By October 31st, the Company had reached Driel. Captain Heyliger was still in charge of Easy and Winters was still running battalion. While stationed in Driel, the two had taken a walk one night along the perimeter. Winters had spent the last bit of it reassuring Heyliger that he was in fact fit to lead Easy Company like he had been doing and that he was doing everything right. Heyliger was from a different Company, yes, but he still new where these men came from, where they've been and what they've been through. 

Their walk had been cut short when they reached a checkpoint guard, a replacement who mistook them for Krauts and opened fire on Moose. Lieutenant Welsh was called for and he brought a vehicle to get Heyliger back to a medical vehicle where a very angry Doc Roe had torn into them for forgetting how much morphine they gave him. Alice hadn't been there, but she was volunteering at the medical station when it happened, which meant she was part of the team that might have just saved Heyliger's life.

-

Throughout November, Alice continued to travel with Easy Company despite Bill being in the hospital still. Turns out, his joy riding injury from a sniper was worse than they had all thought and he wasn't supposed to be released until Christmas at the earliest. She took part in patrols and continued to work in CP; mainly assisting Winters in his paperwork. 

When December 10th rolled around the Company was stationed in Mourmelon. The Company was given a new CO to replace Captain Heyliger: Lieutenant Norman Dike. Alice had joined some of the men in calling him _'Foxhole Norman'_ to reflect on how he never seems to be doing anything useful, even in CP. She often joined the Company in synchronized marches around base, lead by none other than Lieutenant Dike. Needless to say, she would watch him stand around twiddling his thumbs like supervising his troops was inconvenient to him. 

She neglected to bring this up to Winters or even Nixon. Even as she sat in Winters' office with Nixon and Lieutenant Welsh, she didn't bother bringing it up. Winters had enough on his plate as is. 

"Easy still only has 65% strength and most of those are Replacements, including their new CO." Winters explained in distress, as if having more replacements was a bad thing. 

"How's Lieutenant Dike doing?" Nixon asked as Welsh handed him a cup of coffee. 

"Three weeks into Holland and they're already calling him Foxhole Norman." Harry Welsh answered, his tone blank and uncaring. Alice tuned out the conversation as Nixon brought up the news about mid-March action, jumping into Berlin and winning the war. The least exciting part about that would be that the men would be going back into training to pass the time. She tuned back in when Silinski walked into the office. 

"Sir, there's a Sergeant Guarnere here to see you." he announced which earning her attention even more as Bill walked in, still limping a little, but other than that he was seemingly alright. 

"Look what the train brought in." Welsh greeted and Bill stood in the door, giving a salute to his higher officers. 

"Hiya, Captain." Bill grinned, walking in front of the desk to shake Winters' hand. "Jesus, it's true. Never thought I'd see you behind a desk." He joked, shaking Welsh's and Nixon's hands as well. 

"Well, some days he'll sit behind it." Nixon added before Bill turned back to face Winters. 

"Well, I just went AWOL from the hospital, I hope that won't cause you any trouble." He announced. 

"Would you care if it did?" Winters retorted with a grin. 

"Not one bit, sir." Bill smiled before digging through his jacket and pulling out an envelope. "I got a letter here for you from Moose. He's recovering, but it's going to be a long haul." He told them, handing the paper envelope to Winters. Alice tuned out as the mood of the room went sour, no doubt Winters and Welsh still felt some guilt considering they almost overdosed a Captain on morphine. Bill brought up the Christmas Day football game once he recognized the tension only to receive no remark from Winters. 

Alice looked up at Winters with pleading eyes, hoping he would dismiss her so she could catch up with her friend some more now that he was back. He hadn't noticed her just yet, but not once did she stop looking at Winters for a dismissal. 

"Well, uh, I'll just go find some trouble." Bill stated, giving a salute to hopefully get himself out of an awkward situation. He turned to leave before Winters finally acknowledged his leave. 

"Hey, Bill."

"Sir,"

"No more joyriding, right?" Winters checked. 

"Yes, sir." Bill grinned before Winters turned to look at Alice, who was still looking at him hoping to be dismissed. Winters gave a nod, motioning for the door which certified her acceptance to leave. She stood out of the chair and gave a salute to the three superior officers before leaving the office with Bill. 

"So what's their story?" Welsh asked, not knowing why or how Alice and Bill were so close. 

"Childhood best friends before her father moved back to Germany. She rebelled and I guess it was dumb luck that she found him in our Company." Nixon explained.

-

"So, you go AWOL but you're still limping. What the hell." Alice bothered as the two left the CP building. The two didn't even have a destination in mind, they were only walking around. 

"I figured I was gone for too long. Didn't want you to have all the fun." He joked as they passed the rest of Easy Company who were still marching back and forth at Dike's command. Luckily, they hadn't been noticed. "Who's that?" Bill asked, pointing to Dike. 

"That is our new CO. He's replacing Moose Heyliger after he got shot up in Driel, but I'm sure you already know that story. So far, myself and the rest of the Company have begun calling him Foxhole Norman for the sake of him seemingly doing nothing useful to this Company, Division or Regiment. He's a hassle to get a signature or two from I'll tell you that." She explained, reminiscing on her struggles to get him to sign some paperwork for Winters without him asking a million questions. 

"Sounds like an ass." Bill muttered, placing a smoke between his teeth. 

"He is. He walks around with his chest puffed out like he's done great things for this Company and yet when we actually need him for something important he's no where to be found." Alice added, taking her own lighter out of her pocket and lighting his cigarette before Bill could even retrieve his from his pocket, which took him slightly by surprise. 

"What else have I missed besides you." Bill asked as they began walking into the line of Company tents. 

"Nothing much. It's been rather quiet since we rescued the Brits over the river in Schoonderlogt. Been nothing but rain since we got back to France and every now and again we partake in exercise drills lead by the one and only Foxhole Norman." She explained as they reached the tent where Alice was staying with Joe and the rest of Second Platoon. Bill had already dropped his stuff off at the tent, but hadn't gotten organized. 

"Christ, even the hospital was more eventful than this place." Bill retorted, sitting down on a lone cot while Alice lit up the one cup coffee pot stand. They had spent close to an hour talking about what had happened since Bill left for the hospital before the rest of the Platoon came back and took their turns welcoming their Sergeant back. Alice sat by quietly on her cot near the front of the tent until the commotion settled down. 

-

A few days after Bill's return, the cold had set in and the Company had moved from France and into Bastogne, Brussels. Alice had joined the Company in watching an American film in one of the empty halls. Although he was a couple rows ahead of her and Bill, she still heard the snarky comments from Luz, which served more entertainment that the film. The surprising thing was that Buck Compton had returned, but even Alice saw that he was not the same man they knew in Nuenen or even Eindhoven. 

"Lip, favorite part." Alice overheard Luz say, nudging the officer in front of him. Joe had been up there and she noticed he was getting rather annoyed with his fellow Company-man. 

"You watch many movies in Germany?" Bill whispered to Alice. 

"Not really. German films aren't my style." She answered. "And as I watch this I'm starting to think American films aren't either." She mumbled. She had the book Webster let her borrow clutched in her lap. She had finished reading it shortly after Bill returned and had held onto it in case Webster decided to come back. He had been hit before Bill and was still missing. She was starting to think he didn't want to come back. 

"What do you mean? John Wayne is a classic." Bill questioned. 

"Have you noticed I didn't have a social life for quite a few years?" Alice retorted. 

"When this war is over, I'm going to show you every John Wayne movie out there. You're gonna love his earlier works." Bill told her before the doors to the hall were pushed open and another officer ordered the lights be turned on. 

"Elements of the 1st and 6th SS Panzer Division have broken through in the Ardennes Forest. Now, they've overrun the 28th Infantry and elements of the 4th. All officers report to respective HQ's, all passes are cancelled. Enlisted men report to barracks and your platoon leaders." He announced before walking right out of the hall, like he had somewhere else to be. 

"Looks like we're gonna be out in the cold for a while." Bill stated, standing up from his chair followed by Alice. 

"That's nothing new." She mumbled in disappointment. The two left the building together to go gather their things. Little did either of them know, the Ardennes Forest was going to bring a lot more than just cold. 

**-End of Chapter 15-**


	16. Closer to the Enemy

**-  
Bastogne, Brussels  
December 17th, 1944  
-**

By nightfall, the Company had been gathered and given the plan. Except their Company Commander, Lieutenant Dike, hadn't done his job properly and didn't bother asking for more winter packs which left Easy Company without proper winter gear like jackets, mits and extra socks. Many of the men managed to scrounge up their own from other Companies, but it still wasn't enough. On top of that, there was hardly any food rations or ammo to go around which was inevitably going to leave them high and dry and also a sitting target for the SS Panzer division they were going up against. Alice may or may not have done an inventory prior to loading into the trucks and given an incorrect count of how many winter clothes were left for other companies, all so she could get a few extra jackets, mits, hats or socks to give to Easy Company because she knew they would be on the front line for the longest. It seemed to be a repeating pattern whenever Easy was put on the line. 

Winters had torn into Dike about the situation, ignoring Dike's complaints about another officer being out of country before the Company was to advance to the line. For the first time since he got here, Dike had to bust ass to do a canvass of base in order to get more supplies for his Company while the trucks were loaded with men, Alice included. 

The enclosed trucks were stuffed with as many men just so that they could muster up enough body heat to keep each other warm. Alice had taken her place on the floor in between Bill and Joe, who sat up on the bench. Her two coats weren't enough to fight the cold and her finger-less gloves were pretty much useless, but it was something. Her short blonde hair had been left down to cover her ears underneath a toque-style hat, all of which was covered by her helmet. Her jaw had been clenched so it would hide her clattering teeth as she shook from the cold. She wasn't sure if she could consider herself lucky. She had an extra pair of socks, her mits, a hat, two jackets and a dinky little scarf that barely covered her neck. 

"I guess the blackouts not in effect. Luftwaffe must be asleep." Buck Compton joked, hoping to boost the morale a bit. 

"What a difference a day makes, huh Lieutenant." one of the other men replied. Alice hadn't been paying attention to see who it was. The rumbling of the trucks went on for about a minute before Alice heard Bill pipe up. 

"Christ, I miss those C-47s." 

"We've got a tailgate jump here." Talbert added in as the truck hit a bump causing Alice to bump into Bill's leg more than she already was. 

"I just wanna know where they're sendin' us and what the Hell we're supposed to do with no ammo." Babe Heffron complained as the truck rumbled some more on the shitty dirt road. Alice tuned out anymore complaints, only hearing part of the chime Muck had taught the rest of the men about extra socks, and yet no one had any extra socks. 

Suerth Junior became the star of attention when the men began bombarding the replacement with questions. Any extra socks? Any extra ammo? Any smokes? When he answered yes to the last one, a small riot burst out as the men began reaching for him, as if smoking were going to save them from the cold. At least it gave Alice an excuse to feel the warmth of her lighter as Bill passed a cigarette down to her. It was short lived, but at least her fingers felt some sort of heat for the first time in an hour.

-

As the trucks arrived at the edge of the line, Alice made sure she had her rifle in hand before the tailgate even opened. Liebgott, Malarkey, Buck and Bill were the first out of the truck. Alice used part of the bench to haul herself to her feet and jump out of the truck next, followed by Joe.

"15 minutes. Smoke 'em if you got 'em." Buck told the crew. Light and noise discipline must have been going into place. Fires were lit in small potholes of gasoline and the men swarmed to them like they were moths. Alice had been standing next to Babe, smoking a cigarette when the first one passed: bloody bandages wrapped around his head only to let one eye see the way. Followed by him was what was left of the 28th Infantry. 

"Hey Bill, Don, come here look at this." Babe rushed the two. When the two arrived from around the truck, they were in as much shock as everyone else. 

"What the Hell is going on?" Malarkey questioned.

"hey, you're going to wrong way." Bill told the crowd as they walked towards the town of Bastogne. Bill stopped one of the men passing, but barely got anything out him. A mix between shock and exhaustion. Alice had seen it many times before and knew it wasn't a good thing. 

"You got ammo? Gimme your ammo." Bill demanded from the poor bastard. 

"Take it. You'll need it." His last few words had startled her. She knew it was probably going to get bad, but how bad? 

"Hey, you got ammo?" Alice asked the closest man to her. The group of 28th gave up their supplies without question, even to her. She had worked her way into the middle of the crowd and threw every belt of ammo she could over and around her neck until no more could fit and she resorted to slinging them over her arm. When she couldn't carry anymore, she began giving them out to Easy Company. Some belts were adjusted to be full and the empty ones were tossed to the side. She had kept three for herself, one only being half full, but it was something. 

A truck had been driven into a hole in the crowd, the Lieutenant driving had brought ammo from an ammo dump. Alice grabbed whatever crates she could and distributed the contents: more ammo belts. 

"Here, put these on her ammo belt you might need 'em." Bill told her, handing over a couple grenades. Alice quickly tucked them into any open pocket she could before picking up another crate. The box said rifle ammunition but the contents inside were martyr rounds. She picked up the box and immediately went to find Muck or Malarkey since they were a martyr squad. 

"Hey Muck, Malarkey. I found some martyr rounds for you." She called, pushing through the crowd of eager Easy Company men to get to them. 

"How much you got there?" Muck asked. 

"Well they filled a box of rifle ammunition with them. I don't know what you guys usually have." She told him, handing over the box. 

"This'll work, thanks Alice." Malarkey said before Easy Company was ushered to start walking down the road, further away from the town and further into the forest. 

"I don't know about anyone else, but I'm glad you stole those extra socks from CP." Bill stated, walking up beside Alice who was trying not to focus on her shivering. 

"Looks like I'm better at Lieutenant Dike's job than Lieutenant Dike." She muttered, flicking her last cigarette butt into a frozen puddle. 

"Let's hope he stays in his foxhole. He does no harm there." He retorted. The two walked with the Company in silence for a bit until they reached the edge of the forest. 

"God, this looks like we're walking into our afterlife." Alice commented, looking up at the tree branches looming overhead above the road. The road seemed to get darker the farther into the forest the Company walked. 

"Well, thanks for lightening the mood." Bill complained. It would be a long walk to where they were meant to be stationed and even then, they still had to dig their foxholes. With frozen dirt covered in snow, that would be no easy task. 

-

As the group continued on their frozen journey, Alice began to think of the winters she spent alone while working for the Organization. Back then, she had proper winter clothes supplied to her by her higher ups. Even when she was living in America. The winters in Philadelphia weren't too bad, but enough to make you wish you were somewhere warm about half way through. Her thoughts had taken a wrong turn and she was back to thinking about her old life, before her mother passed. 

"Hey Bill." Alice said, getting his attention as they began to walk with the Company off the road and through the trees, freezing their feet. 

"Yeah." 

"What did you do after I left Philly?" She asked, curious to what her friend had done all these years. 

"Well, nothing much. Joined the Citizens Military Training Camp, spent a few summers there. Once this whole shit storm started I started working at the old factory putting together Sherman tanks. Coulda been exempt from all this, but I enlisted anyway. Now I'm here." He told her. Unknowingly to Alice, Bill's life wasn't even half as exciting as it was when they were kids. 

"I'm sure you were a real stud working in that factory." Alice joked, nudging his arm with her elbow. 

"Something like that." Bill puffed out, going along with her joke. A comfortable silence took over for a bit before Alice spoke up once more. 

"You got anyone special waiting for you back home?" Alice inquired, wanting to know more about her friend who she seemingly knew nothing about anymore. 

"Besides my mom, not anymore." He answered sadly. 

"What, a handsome fella like you didn't snatch yourself a sweet little lady?" 

"I did, for a while. We broke up before we deployed. Now all I got left at home is me family." He explained. 

"Ah, I'm sorry Bill. Maybe you'll find someone when the wars over." Alice told him, sympathy laced in her voice. 

"Eh, I'm not worried about it anymore. My loss is now my gain since we found you in Carentan." He said, almost like he was reassuring her that he was fine by the situation. The two went back to walking quietly as the Company reached its spot in the forest. Foxhole digging commenced while an OP was set up at the edge of the line. Alice had helped take down branches, strip them of any smaller branches and use them to hold up tarps above the foxholes. This was the beginning of a long wait-it-out kind of situation. 

**-End of Chapter 16-**


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